Trading in Hong Kong blue chips was mostly flat yesterday as investors continued to shift their attention to non-index technology counters, with a stronger Wharf the only exception.
The Hang Seng Index ended 56.82 points, or 0.41 per cent, lower at 13,804.03.
Turnover rose to $11.32 billion from $9.07 billion on Monday.
Pacific Century CyberWorks' share placement, announced on Monday, lifted turnover. The stock saw trading of $3.25 billion - 28.75 per cent of overall turnover.
Analysts said the driver of Wharf's stock was market talk that telecommunications giant AT&T could buy a stake in Wharf's recently announced spin-off of its cable-television and Internet operations (Stock Split, Page 12).
Any such acquisition would be made before the expected dual listing of the operations in Hong Kong and the United States, traders said.