THE Hang Seng Index is expected to show little activity this week because of the Easter holidays, say analysts. ''It's not going to move very much with Monday and Friday a holiday,'' said Mr Nigel Down, manager, investment advisory, at Thornton Investment (Asia). The coming week will be a noted change from previous weeks where political excitement has kept the index fuelled. The most notable political development last week occured on Tuesday when Governor Mr Chris Patten acknowledged the possibility that he could get forced out of office before 1997, when Hongkong's sovereignty changes to Beijing. News of another delay in the legislative process on his political reforms also added to the territory's shares. The Hang Seng Index moved as high as 6,442.43 on Tuesday after trading as low as 6,328.74 early in the session. Thin trade and conflicting views of Sino-British relations added to some sharp price swings on Wednesday, following the speculation on Mr Patten. But by the end of the day, trading had normalised and the index closed down just 17.63 points. The Hang Seng Index closed at 6,404.44. Company news was also limited last week. Some confusion surrounded the decision to bring Hutchison Whampoa's conversion dates for its warrants forward by two weeks and rumours that Mr Li Kashing would enter the market to raise cash for either Cheung Kong or Hutchison accelerated selling on Thursday. Analysts don't expect any further developments on the Hutchison front this week. Market expectation on this week is that the index will move sideways. Mr Percy Au-young, research director at Sun Hung Kai Securities, anticipates movement within the 6,250 and 6,500 mark. Mr Charles Whitworth, an analyst at brokers James Capel, forecasts a similar range. ''I would say there would be buying support at 6,100 and a lot of resistance at 6,500.'' With this week expected to be calm, analysts preferred looking to the longer term. Mr Whitworth suggested that there was some concern over the future of Chinese and US relations. ''People are very keen to know if the US are going to impose conditions on MFN status.'' Mr Whitworth suggested that if so, some Hongkong companies manufacturing products in China could be affected. ''It could lead to a restraining factor over the next two to three months as it becomes higher profile news.''
