Hong Kong stocks ran out of steam yesterday and finished slightly lower after six straight days of gains and an accumulated advance of more than 1,200 points over the past two weeks. Lingering uncertainty about the impact of higher oil prices was partially blamed for the receding buying interest, while a drop in home sales last month cooled off high-flying property price expectations triggered by last week's successful land auction. A fall in the Standard & Poor's index future also hurt sentiment as it suggested Wall Street would head lower when it reopened after a long weekend, while checks ordered by China's banking regulator into lending to certain sectors, including steel, aluminium, cement and property, was used to justify profit taking in H shares. The thin trading volumes indicated selling pressure was quite light, however, and analysts said the market was likely to resume its upward trend after a short period of consolidation and range trading. 'In the morning, clients said they were looking to find further stimulus and in the meantime, people who were lucky enough to get in two weeks ago are securing profits,' said Trevor Cheung, head of research at DBS Vickers. The Hang Seng Index fell 0.76 per cent, or 92.69 points, to 12,105.55, led by the property sub-index which lost 1.37 per cent. Sun Hung Kai Properties fell 1.5 per cent to $65.50, while Cheung Kong dipped 1.28 per cent to $57.75. Property-heavy retail conglomerate Wheelock gave up 3.19 per cent to $9.10. Most market watchers remain positive about the sector, however, and according to dealers, some investors are accumulating shares ahead of the next land auction on June 15, which is expected to attract another round of enthusiastic bidding by developers. HSBC fell 1.27 per cent to $116. The bank had added $8 in the past eight days and was ripe for some profit taking, dealers said. China Mobile fell 0.66 per cent to $22.30. Instead, investors diverted their money to the defensive utilities sector where Hongkong Electric gained 0.91 per cent to $33.20. Off-shore oil producer CNOOC benefited as crude oil futures edged above US$40 in response to the terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia over the weekend. Downstream petrochemical stocks and airlines fell. The H-share index fell 1.3 per cent to 4,245.75 points. Anhui Conch Cement fell 4.06 per cent to $9.45, while Aluminum Corp of China slid 2.79 per cent to $4.35. Tsingtao Brewery was the top performer with a 5.36 per cent gain to $7.85 after Anheuser-Busch finally showed its hand in the takeover battle for rival Harbin Brewery. Anheuser said it had increased its stake in the brewer to 36 per cent from 29 per cent, effectively triggering a mandatory general offer for all the remaining shares at no less than $5.58 per share - a hefty premium over rival SABMiller's outstanding offer of $4.30 per share. 'It's a very aggressive price and investors are speculating that the valuation for similar stocks will have to be re-rated,' said Marco Mak of Tai Fook Securities Guangdong Brewery gained 5.61 per cent to $1.88, although part of that was likely due to news of a plant expansion. Harbin Brewery was suspended yesterday after closing at $5.10 on Monday. KEY FIGURES Close: 12,105.55 (-92.69) Turnover: $11.11 bln Volume: 13.19 bln shares Day's high: 12,253.26 Day's low: 12,076.92 Advanced: 341 Declined: 707 Unchanged: 673 June futures: 12,084 (-91) July futures: 12,085 (-87)
