HONG KONG stocks made healthy gains over the past week, buoyed by a rally in US shares and strong interim results from two of the territory's leading banks. HSBC and Hang Seng Bank reported their first-half earnings on Monday and the better than expected results gave the market a boost. Red chips also stood out, capturing the attention of the market after the launch of a basket of red-chip warrants. The benchmark Hang Seng Index gained 142.06 points, or 1.29 per cent, over the week to close at 11,104.03. Average daily turnover rose to $4.77 billion from $3.45 billion the previous week. 'The strength is all in the banks,' said Howard Gorges, South China Brokerage director. 'Their turnover was enormous, but we would have to see some broader strength before we can see a breakout,' he said. Index giant HSBC powered the market forward over the week after it posted 34 per cent growth in pre-tax profits after the market closed on Monday. HSBC shares gained 4.72 per cent to $133 over the week after reaching an historic high of $134 on Wednesday. Hang Seng Bank, which posted interim profit growth of 34.4 per cent, closed up 1.27 per cent to $79.50. 'Hang Seng Bank has not performed as well as HSBC because it will find it difficult to maintain its profit-growth for the whole year,' Percy Au-young, DBS Securities research director, said. Smaller banking stocks also gained on follow-through buying. Bank of East Asia rose 3.91 per cent, Dah Sing Financial gained 5.53 per cent and Dao Heng Bank rose 6 per cent. The market received a boost at the start of the week after some interest-rate friendly economic data from the US. The previous Friday's lower than expected job growth figures in the US buoyed stocks as it seemed to kill off an immediate threat of higher interest rates. 'The prospects for stable interest rates is helping both short-term and long-term investors alike,' said Kent Rossiter, Nikko Securities senior institutional sales manager. News that US non-farm payrolls for July had grown by 193,000, well under forecasts of 204,000, brought down bond yields at the start of the week, and they stayed down. Red chips stole centre-stage on Thursday after WI Carr Indosuez issued a warrant on a basket of red chip stocks on Wednesday. The warrant covered only China Resources, China Overseas, Guangzhou Investments, Ng Fung Hong, and Shanghai Industrial, but it helped all China-related stocks. 'The red chips were in the limelight,' Patrick Chia, China Everbright Securities research director, said. 'They not only made gains, they did so in heavy volume.' Shanghai Industrial soared 4.88 per cent on Thursday and Guangzhou Investments gained 4.7 per cent. The new listings of the week had mixed fortunes. Kerry Properties ended its first day on Monday at $17.55 just 5 cents above its issue price. It ended the week at the same level. Financial services provider Tai Fook Group did better, rising 10.5 per cent above its $1.33 issue price when it debuted on Wednesday. It ended the week at $1.39. Over the week, among the 33 Hang Seng Index constituents, 18 advanced, twoclosed unchanged and 13 fell. Looking ahead, brokers see quiet trading in the coming week with the market awaiting further results but little prospect of much excitement.
