Market Wrap: Hong Kong stocks fall ahead of ICBC earnings

Jeanny Yu

Published: 5:46pm, 30 Oct 2012

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Hong Kong stocks fell for the third day as investors took profits in financials ahead of key third-quarter earnings results and in the property sector following the city’s fresh curbs.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index lost 82.47 points, or 0.38 per cent, to close at 21,428.58. Turnover stood at HK$46 billion, compared with a year-to-date average of HK$53 billion.

Funds flew out of banking shares as investors waited for the third-quarter results of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (1398.HK), due after Tuesday’s market closes. ICBC lost 1.76 per cent to finish at HK$5.03.

The Hang Seng China Enterprise Index, which tracks the performance of Hong Kong-listed Chinese companies, shed 87.98 points, or 0.83 per cent to finish at 10,458.26.

Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group (2196.HK), slumped 8.14 per cent to finish at HK$10.84 on its first trading day on the board. The company, which makes modern drugs and traditional Chinese medicine, fell as much as 12 per cent during the day.

BYD Co. (1211.HK), the Chinese automaker partly owned by billionaire Warren Buffet, slumped 4.08 per cent to finish at HK$15.06, after posting a 94 per cent slump in third-quarter profit from a year earlier.

Deutsche Bank Vincent Ha, who rates BYD stock as “sell” and has a target price of HK$12.6 on it, said in a morning note that its overall vehicle sales momentum and profitability have “no signs of recovery” even with some encouraging new model sales data.

Net income for 2012 could drop to between 27.7 million yuan and 110 million yuan, the automaker said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

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