Pacific Century CyberWorks boosted Internet-related stocks yesterday after the company spent about $185 million in the largest single-day share buy-back on the market this year. The transaction was carried out on Tuesday when the company bought 34.78 million shares at between $5.20 and $5.55 a share, the stock exchange announced yesterday. Brokers said the transaction helped boost technology stocks yesterday after their sharp falls on Tuesday. 'It gave some confidence to the market,' said BNP Prime Peregrine director of sales Jason Ho Ka-keung. China Prosperity Holdings (Hong Kong) jumped 17.34 per cent to $2.30 while China Online (Bermuda) rose 15.38 per cent to 25.5 cents yesterday but CyberWorks gained only 2.72 per cent to close at $5.65. CyberWorks' share price has suffered after the company raised $3.87 billion last week from a placement of 635 million shares at $6.10 each - a 7.96 per cent premium to yesterday's closing price. The funds were used to finance the purchase of a 23 per cent stake in United States company SoftNet Systems. Analysts said the buy-back was well-timed after the sharp fall in the share price. 'They caught it right at the bottom of the market,' Primark Asian ownership research director Robert Halili said. The CyberWorks buy-back was the second largest in one day on the open market in Hong Kong's history, according to Mr Halili. The largest was conducted by Swire Pacific when it spent $227.56 million buying back 3.83 million A shares in April 1997, he said. Shares bought back by companies are cancelled, which reduces the supply of equity and increases the earnings per share. CCT Telecom Holdings bought back 2.86 million shares on Tuesday at between $2.05 and $2.225 a share. The counter jumped 14.77 per cent yesterday to close at $2.525. South China Brokerage shares also recorded strong gains yesterday after the company announced on Tuesday that it was launching an Internet trading platform. The brokerage expects to sign up 4,000 clients to the Internet service within a few months.
