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SCMP Reporter

THE Hang Seng Index moved up 57.91 points in thin trade yesterday, with investors taking mild encouragement from the Executive Council which failed to start pushing Governor Chris Patten's democracy proposals into law.

  The rise takes the index, which closed at 6,117.95, above 6,100 for the first time in 11/2 weeks.

  ''The rise seems good but there seems to be a lot of underlying uncertainty,'' said Mr Michael Ng Wai-ming, assistant general manager of Sassoon Securities.

  Much of the day's action took place after trading closed, when Dairy Farm, Jardine Strategic and Dah Sing Financial Holdings all started work on major transactions, totalling $4.5 billion.

  Property shares recovered from their poor showing on Monday. Cheung Kong was among the leaders, rising 60 cents or 2.8 per cent to $22.20 on the day's highest turnover of $120.4 million.

  Also busy were the Sponikle and Polycourt warrants issued on Cheung Kong and Hutchison, respectively, which had trade between them of $139.5 million.

  On the futures market, prices moved ahead of equities, the March index contract rising 85 points to 6,065, with longer contracts showing a significant fall-off in prices.

  The June contract closed 68 points higher at 6,008.

  Turnover in equities was well below the levels of previous weeks, at $2.24 billion.

  Almost all the rising prices were in the property sector, with the property sub-index rising 202.25 points or 2.2 per cent to 9,452.49.

  Reports that there could be some easing of the mortgage loan ceiling also helped these issues.

  Leading the rise in property stocks was Great Eagle, which after a bad two weeks bounced up 15 cents or 4.9 per cent to $3.20.

  Hang Lung Development rose 30 cents or three per cent to $10.40.

  Best-performing stock in the index was HAECO, which last week announced a mainland joint venture which will cut its costs and which is a rumoured target of mainland buying.

  Hongkong Telecom rose 10 cents to $9.75, a performance one dealer said could be related to the expiry of the Cable & Wireless warrant at the end of this month.

   The shares rose $1.60 or 5.6 per cent to $29.90.

  Three of the 33 index-constituent stocks fell. The biggest loser was Dairy Farm, with investors selling ahead of the results announced after the market closed. The shares fell 20 cents or 1.9 per cent to $10.40.

  Hongkong Land fell 10 cents to $12.90 after announcing a profit rise of 2.3 per cent after the market closed on Monday.

  The best performing share of the day was Giordano, which rose 80 cents or 13.7 per cent to $6.65.

  Semi-Tech saw large trade of $72.2 million but the share price rose just 30 cents or 1.7 per cent to $17.50.



Investors take heart as Exco plays for time