Hong Kong shares are likely to stay rangebound this week taking their cue from the interim results for banking giant HSBC, dealers said. BC and its subsidiary will kick off the earnings season on Monday with the release of their first half results. The Bank of East Asia will announce its figures on Wednesday.
Dealers said investors were cautious ahead of the release as it is not yet clear how well the numbers will be due to accounting changes.
"It's not clear because as they are adopting a new accounting rule. Some analysts say their profit will be up nine percent and some say it will be down nine percent. Everyone is guessing," said DBS Vickers Director Peter Lai.
"Whether it is good or bad, it's going to affect the whole market," he added.
Herbert Lau, chief investment officer of CASH asset management at Celestial Asia, agreed.
"Analysts are split over the outcome of HSBC results. So there's the uncertainty," he said.
Lai and Lau said the index could breach the 15,000 point mark if the results outcome was positive; if not, it could fall to as low as 14,300 points.
For the week ending July 29, the benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 105.83 points or 0.72 percent to 14,892.29.
Oil prices could also be a concern as crude prices again rose past the 60 dollars a barrel level.
Dealers said investors will closely watch a batch of US economic data, including second quarter GDP and consumer sentiment for July which will also help set the direction for the this week.
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