Vale and Sateri fail to excite on securities trading debut

The securities of two Brazilian firms that began trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday - mining giant Vale and wood-based cellulose maker Sateri - failed to ignite interest from investors on their debut.

Turnover of Vale's common depositary receipts - which represent one share - was just over HK$50 million. For its class A preferred depositary receipts it was HK$4.31 million. That was relatively low given that its market capitalisation rivals Hong Kong-listed HSBC, which regularly comes top in terms of turnover.

Sateri, which owns pulp production mills in Brazil and China and is controlled by Indonesian billionaire Sukanto Tanoto and his family, traded in low volumes before closing at HK$6.50 - down 1.52 per cent from its offer price on its debut.

Vale, which is already trading in Sao Paulo, New York and on Paris' Euronext, offered 259 million common Hong Kong depositary receipts (HDRs) and 393 million class A preferred depositary receipts.

The HDRs opened at HK$270 and closed at HK$265.20. They closed 0.7 per cent above the US$33.93 closing price of Vale's American depositary receipts (ADRs) in New York on Tuesday, and 1.4 per cent above the closing price of 56.72 Brazilian real on Brazil's stock exchange.

The class A preferred depositary receipts opened at HK$236.60 and closed at HK$233.