Hong Kong share prices closed 0.36 percent higher on Monday as select blue chips attracted buying interest in relatively thin trade after the market found no lead in Wall Street's muted reaction to stronger-than-expected US jobs data, dealers said. The key Hang Seng Index closed up 51.13 points at 14,085.09, off a high of 14,068.26, on turnover of 13.82 billion Hong Kong dollars (1.8 billion US dollars). The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index was up 34.47 points or 0.73 percent at 4,772.31. "Scores of investors believe that certain stocks, including China Mobile, have been lagging behind the market in the past few weeks. This encouraged buying of these stocks," said Eugene Law, head of research at Shenyin Wanguo Securities.
China Mobile rose 0.25 at 27.75 Hong Kong dollars. Among others in favour, Cheung Kong rose 0.50 to 74.50, Sun Hung Kai Properties was up 0.50 at 76.25, PetroChina put on 0.075 at 4.825 and CNOOC added 0.10 at 4.375.
At the same time, "many investors stayed on the sidelines, as reflected by the low turnover. Most of them were cautious as they await ... leads on the direction of the overseas markets," Law said. Banks were mostly steady with HSBC flat at 126.50, Hang Seng Bank unchanged at 106.00, Bank of East Asia up 0.10 at 16.15 and BOC Hong Kong steady at 14.85.
Ping An Insurance outperformed the market, gaining 0.65 to 12.75 on news that HSBC is buying an additional 9.91 percent stake in the Chinese insurer.
H-shares were mixed, with China Unicom up 0.05 at 6.35, Cosco Pacific down 0.30 at 16.65, Jilin Chemical down 0.04 at 1.69, Angang New Steel flat at 4.275, China Power down 0.025 at 2.70 and Jiangxi Copper steady at 3.775.
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