Hong Kong stocks inched higher in feather-light trade yesterday as the summer months and the announcement of Li Ka-shing's half-year report card after the bell kept most investors on the sidelines.
The Hang Seng Index closed up 21.74 points or 0.2 per cent at 10,424, on a turnover of HK$5.16 billion.
'This is the end of the summer doldrums. There's no point being brave in this market,' said DBS Vickers Securities sales director Antony Mak Siu-leung.
'There's no news so people would rather take the excuse of waiting for the results but even after that, I doubt that people will do anything drastic. They'd rather wait until September before deciding their next move.'
Hutchison and Cheung Kong were dominating proceedings before their interim results release after the close of trading. Cheung Kong ended unchanged at $58.25, Hutchison slipped 0.44 per cent to $55.50.
The Hong Kong and global markets have recovered somewhat from the carnage of last month and early this month which saw the HSI fall as much as 10.53 per cent.
With accounting scandals easing, helped by the chief executives of corporate America's 700 largest firms signing off on their most recent earnings reports, analysts said the health of the United States economy was commanding investors' attention.
