HONG KONG, June 8 (Reuters) – Hong Kong shares succumbed to profit taking on Monday as investors digested mixed signals from the U.S. economy and held their breath for a raft of economic data from China and the United States this week.

 

But China-listed shares edged up with financials helped by news of a possible tie-up between two heavyweights and property counters buoyed by strong sales in May.

 

Here are the index moves and top stock moves by midday-

 

HONG KONG

 

* The benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI was down 0.7 percent at 18,544.26 led by a 1.2 percent drop in global lender HSBC (0005.HK).

 

* Data on Friday showed U.S. employers cut 345,000 jobs in May — substantially less than analysts had forecast — but the U.S. unemployment rate hit 9.4 percent, its highest since 1983.

 

* Turnover edged down to HK$40.3 billion from midday Friday’s HK$41.5 billion.

 

* The China Enterprises Index .HSCE of top mainland companies dipped 0.4 percent to 10,818.83.

 

* China Overseas Land (0688.HK) bucked the trend in the broad market to rise 2.9 percent to HK$16.56 after the top Chinese property developer said its property sales in May soared 113.9 percent from a year earlier to HK$5.65 billion (US$724 million).

 

* Smaller rival Greentown China (3900.HK) piled on 7.2 percent to HK$10.66 after recording a 193 percent jump in May sales to 6.2 billion yuan from a year earlier. Greentown said the average contract selling price for the first five months rose 12 percent year on year to 11,251 yuan per square meter.

 

* Chinese electricity producers soared for a second straight session on reports that coal miners and power producers had agreed on a nominal increase in coal prices in two provinces in China after protracted negotiations. [ID:nHKG128447]

 

* Huadian Power (1071.HK) gained 3.3 percent, while China’s largest power producer Huaneng Power (0902.HK) rose 5.5 percent to HK$5.97. Datang International Power (0991.HK) climbed 4.7 percent to HK$4.86.

 

* However, China Resources Power (0836.HK) slipped 1.3 percent after piling on nearly 13 percent since the beginning of June, ahead of its inclusion in the benchmark Hang Seng Index on Monday.

 

* Hong Kong-based property developers sank on Monday after property transactions fell 77 percent from last week amid a lack of new launches, according to local newspaper reports. Top developer Sun Hung Kai Properties (0016.HK) dropped 3.3 percent, to HK$97.70 while Li Ka-shing’s property flagship Cheung Kong (0001.HK) fell 1.9 percent.

 

SHANGHAI

 

* The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC ended the morning up 0.4 percent at 2,764.858, as news of a possible tie-up between Ping An Insurance (601318.SS) and Shenzhen Development Bank (000001.SZ) boosted financial shares.

 

* Gaining Shanghai A shares outnumbered losers by 518 to 371, while turnover in Shanghai A shares shrank to 67.6 billion yuan ($9.9 billion) from Friday morning’s heavy 83.1 billion yuan.

 

* Analysts said supportive steps for industries such as a rise in export tax rebates lifted sentiment, although IPOs, which have been suspended for nearly nine months, could resume any time after the end of a comment period on new rules last Friday, and this could spur profit-taking.

 

* “The index is likely to edge up, since the worst period for the Chinese economy may be over,” added Huatai Securities analyst Chen Jinren.

 

* Financial shares outperformed after Ping An Insurance and Shenzhen Development Bank shares were suspended from trade pending announcements. Sources familiar with the situation said the two were working on a tie-up.

 

* China Merchants Bank (600036.SS) rose 4.38 percent to 20.04 yuan, China Construction Bank (601939.SS) climbed 4.13 percent to 5.04 yuan and Hua Xia Bank (600015.SS) gained 4.96 percent to 11.01 yuan.

 

* Minsheng Bank Corp (600016.SS) jumped 5.36 percent to 7.66 yuan after saying it planned to issue shares in Hong Kong. The official Shanghai Securities News said market estimates put the likely amount to be raised at about 20 billion yuan. [ID:nSHA35292]

 

* The Ministry of Finance said on Monday China was increasing value added tax rebates to exporters of more than 600 product lines. [ID:nPEK38271] The news lifted a number of shares, with Fujian Fynex Textile Science & Technology (600493.SS) racing up its 10 percent daily limit to 5.78 yuan.

 

* Property shares were strong, with China Vanke (000002.SZ), the country’s biggest-listed property developer, climbing 5.14 percent to 11.24 yuan after saying its May property sales rose 19.7 percent from a year earlier to 6.41 billion yuan, up 22 percent from April’s 5.27 billion yuan. [ID:nSHA37877]

 

(Reporting by Parvathy Ullatil in HONG KONG & Claire Zhang in SHANGHAI; Editing by Ed Klamann and Jacqueline Wong)

 

 

 

Posted by Shayne Heffernan on Jun 8th, 2009and filed underLatest News.You can follow any responses to this entry through theRSS 2.0You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site