SHARES began the week with a bounce, buoyed by a land sale, but floundered for lack of direction in succeeding sessions.
The Hang Sang Index closed the week down 1.1 per cent to 10,879.93. Average daily turnover was a slim $4.85 billion.
A top-end tender for a Causeway Bay luxury residential site the previous Friday cheered the index to a 1.36 per cent gain on Monday but by Tuesday the index closed below 11,000. It did not close at more than 11,000 for the rest of the week.
A Wednesday land sale disappointed the market when it drew just one big-name developer, though prices paid were in the middle range of expectations.
'There is just a lack of incentives to attract foreign liquidity into Asia right now,' OCBC Securities associate director for sales Alvin Owyang said. 'There is a lot of focus on the US and Europe. Asia is not a favourite place to put their money.' The futures market traded at a discount to cash throughout the week because of a lack of liquidity and optimism. 'Too many on the short side,' Robert Fleming Securities futures dealer David Scott said.
HSBC Holdings shed 2.15 per cent to close the week at $227.
It was a mixed bag for property counters: Sun Hung Kai, Henderson Investment and Amoy Properties enjoyed marginal gains. Sino Land, Cheung Kong and Hang Lung Development each lost less than 1 per cent.
