At 10.10:30 Reuters reports: 'HK shares open flat.'

At 10.10:41 Xinhua reports: 'Hong Kong stocks open lower.'

LOW EXPECTATIONS

Also on Wednesday, China Unicom was the Hang Seng Index's best performer.

The reason? Analysts were recently taken on a tour of the company's operations in a relatively poor, inland province where it acquired a mobile-phone network from its parent. 'It wasn't that bad,' was one analyst's impression of Unicom's Shaanxi operations. Others apparently felt the same, leading to revised recommendations and greater investor demand for the stock.

Not getting the point

Just how dull a day was it in the market yesterday? The Hang Seng Index opened at 12,075.97, and closed all of 0.02 points higher at 12,075.99. 'Why even bother publishing a Markets section tomorrow?' asked one trader.

AN ESCALATING CRISIS

Hopewell Holdings' ever-pugnacious chairman has taken escalation to new heights - literally. Peeved at local residents' growing opposition to Hopewell's Mega Tower Hotel, planned for Ship Street, Sir Gordon Wu Ying-sheung threatened to bar public access to the escalators at Hopewell Centre - a popular shortcut for city pedestrians.