Shares in a small telecommunications firm soared more than 1,200 per cent yesterday on the first day of trading after it was revealed as a takeover target for Cyberport developer Pacific Century Group. Tricom Holdings shares rose from 13.6 cents to hit a high of $3.22 before dropping back to $1.83. They had traded as low as three cents last month. If you had bought $10,000 worth of shares then, your holding would have been worth more than $1 million at yesterday's peak. Turnover was $1.87 billion, more than double that of market heavyweight HSBC, and 16 per cent of the stock market total. Richard Li Tzar-kai's Pacific Century said on Monday it would take over Tricom in a $2.46 billion deal and use it as its flagship vehicle for the Cyberport, the $13 billion project to create a hi-tech hub in Pokfulam. 'A lot of investors bought the stock no matter what the price,' said Delta Asia Securities research manager Ricky Tam Siu-hing. The Tricom rise came amid a wave of market fervour for hi-tech and Internet-related stocks, many of which have posted sharp rises in recent weeks. The Hang Seng Index rose 222.62 points, or 1.66 per cent, to 13,559.69 amid a region-wide rally following another record close on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average passed 11,000 points on Monday, less than seven weeks after breaking 10,000 for the first time.
