HK shares end higher, 39% up in 2007

Blue chips and property stocks rose Monday on expectations they will continue to benefit from China's economic boom and interest rate cuts in the United States, leading Hong Kong's benchmark share index to close the year with a 39 percent gain.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 442.05 points, or 1.62 percent, to 27,812.65 after trading between 27,437.94 and 27,820. 14 during the session. Turnover totaled 43.36 billion HK dollars for the half-day session, compared with 78.22 billion HK dollars in Friday's regular session.

The benchmark index rose 39 percent this year from its close at 19,964 points in 2006. On Oct. 30, it rose to a record 31,958 points intraday.

All the four major categories gained ground. The Properties advanced 3.86 percent, followed by the Utilities at 1.91 percent, the Commerce and Industry at 1.87 percent, and the Finance at 0.72 percent.

China Mobile rose 2.1 percent to 137.90 HK dollars. The stock's price more than doubled this year from 67.20 HK dollars at the end of 2006 on strong growth of mobile users in China.

HSBC, which has the biggest weighting of 15 percent in the Hang Seng Index, rose 0.5 percent to 131.70 HK dollars. But it closed the year down 8 percent from 2006, under performing the market because of investor concerns about the impact of the subprime mortgage problem in the United States.

PetroChina, the third biggest stock in the index in terms of weighting, rose 1.9 percent to 13.90 HK dollars. The stock gained 26 percent in 2007 on China's strong demand for oil and gas and the company's aggressive expansion of upstream assets at home and abroad.

Developers outperformed the market Monday. Cheung Kong rose 4.8percent to 144.20 HK dollars, Sun Hung Kai Properties climbed 4.2 percent to 165.60 HK dollars, and Hang Lung Properties jumped 5.7 percent to 35.30 HK dollars.