Hong Kong shares are likely to open weaker today following Wall Street's fall last week and continuing concerns about the economy. The low turnover seen last week is expected to persist, adding weight to the argument that prices will ease amid listless trading. Delta Asia Securities research manager Ricky Tam Siu-hing said he expected the market to trend lower. 'Last week, turnover was almost the lowest this year and with those sort of volumes, it's easy for the market to go down,' Mr Tam said. Average daily turnover was $4.85 billion last week, compared with an average of $8.47 billion this year. The Hang Seng Index lost 1.1 per cent and brokers said it could drift lower to test the 10,500-point level in the next few days. Worldsec International regional research head Carlton Poon said overseas factors could cancel each other out, leaving the Hong Kong market to look to economic news for direction. 'The US market has been quite strong for a while and could be due for a correction but Japan will try to push higher on the back of Friday's news,' he said. On Friday, the Japanese Government passed a resolution for the 16.6 trillion yen (about HK$980.52 billion) stimulus package to help the beleaguered economy. The Japanese stock market rallied ahead of the resolution. In reaction, Wall Street closed 0.8 per cent lower, but still above the key 9,000-point level at 9,064.62 on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It was 1.1 per cent lower on the week, its first weekly loss after three weeks of gains. Mr Tam said the Japanese stimulus package could benefit regional markets over the long term. He added that Hong Kong sentiment would remain weak for the short haul after last week's announcement that the unemployment rate had jumped to a three-year high of 3.5 per cent and retail sales had plunged 18 per cent in February. Mr Poon said Hong Kong shares faced an important week. If the market broke through the 10,800-point level, it could fall sharply to 10,000 points, he said. 'If the market can hold above 10,800, it could rally back up to 12,000 in the next couple of months,' Mr Poon said. Activity is likely to be dominated by the expiration of April index futures on Thursday. Last Friday, the April contract finished at 10,850 points, a 29.93-point discount to the cash market. With most important corporate results already in the market, brokers are not looking to profit results to guide market direction. KEY FIGURES Week's close: 10,879.93 (-121.39) Turnover (daily avg): $4.85 bln Vol (daily avg): 4.18 bln shares Week's high: 11,191.92 Week's low: 10,767.32 April futures: 10,850 (-50) May futures: 10,805 (-75)
