August 29th, 2010  - by Najam

HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks edged lower on Friday, their sixth session of losses following a poor lead from Wall Street, although Shanghai got a lift from strong corporate earnings. The benchmark Hang Seng Index edged 14.71 points lower to 20,597.35. Turnover was 51.53 billion Hong Kong dollars (6.62 billion US). Dealers were anxious ahead of the release of revised data from the United States, which is expected to show that growth was not as strong as initially thought in the second quarter. The Dow index fell 0.74 percent in New York on Thursday to its lowest close since July 6.  Investors were also anxiously awaiting a planned speech by Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke at an annual meeting of central bankers and top financial officials.

“Investors are awaiting Bernanke’s speech for an update of the   nation’s monetary policy but we don’t expect any dramatic shift in interest-rate direction,” Linus Yip, a strategist at First Shanghai Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.  Insurer China Life extended its declines for the sixth straight session, falling 1.8 percent to 30.10, a more than 13-month low. Chinese wireless operator China Unicom bucked the trend, rising 1.2 percent to 10.46 on expectations of its release of Apple’s iPhone 4 and iPad products in China.  Shanghai shares closed up 0.28 percent, reversing early weakness as strong first-half corporate earnings outweighed worries about the global economic recovery and domestic tightening policies, dealers said.
The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, was up 7.26 points at 2,610.74 on turnover of 75.2 billion yuan (11.1 billion dollars). Oil companies led the gains after PetroChina and China Oilfield Services reported strong first-half results Thursday.”The oil sector’s strong results reassured investors and curbed their fears of a double-dip recession after Wall Street’s weak performance this week,” Zhang Yanbing, an analyst at Zheshang Securities, said.
PetroChina added 0.7 percent to 10.31 yuan after reporting a 29 percent rise in first-half net profit to 65.33 billion yuan. Firms in other resource sectors also edged up on hopes Beijing will continue to support key industries to promote growth. Baoshan Iron and Steel rose 0.6 percent to 6.32 yuan, and Angang Steel gained 0.3 percent to 8.11 yuan. Anhui Conch Cement rose 3.6 percent to 21.99 yuan.

Source: News Agencies