THE Hong Kong market gift wrapped its last hurrah before Christmas by leap-frogging the 11,000 barrier for the first time.
The 153-point rise was fuelled by continued demand from overseas investors, who refused to accept the logic of a technical correction which local analysts were convinced would befall the last days trading.
After breaking through 11,000, brokers expected the market to backtrack since resistance was being encountered but instead it closed a whisker off the intra-day high.
Despite the heady values that have been established in recent weeks it seems foreign investors still see Hong Kong stocks as cheap.
''We expected profit-taking after breaking the 11,000 level because there was resistance at that level,'' said Alex Tang, an analyst at Yamaichi International.
He said the market was technically over bought but overseas money flooding in was responsible for much of the rise in Hong Kong and in other regional markets.
''The market's thin volume in the past few days suggests volatility for the next few weeks,'' Mr Tang said of Yamaichi.
