Hong Kong stocks hit one-month closing high on Wednesday

Hong Kong stocks rallied further on Wednesday, hitting a one-month closing high with anticipation that the credit crisis may ebb. The benchmark, Hang Seng Index, jumped more than 3%, buoyed by property and financial shares.

Hang Seng Index opened slightly higher at 24,133.77 points in the morning session. After fluctuating between 23,858.89 and 24,195.32 points, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index gained 734.97 points, or 3.18% to close at 23,872.43. Mainboard turnover surged to HK$114.68 billion (US$14.7 billion) from Tuesday's HK$78.03 billion.

Hang Seng China Enterprise Index, which tracks the overall performance of 43 Chinese mainland state-owned enterprises on Hong Kong Stock Exchange, advanced 569.99 points or 4.66% to 12,807.35 points.

Bargain-hunting investors chased to buy into blue-chips, even pushed up the Hang Seng Index above the 24,000 level during the trading. Market heavyweight HSBC Holdings Plc<5> added 1.94% to HK$131.5, boosting the index alone by 71.887 points.

Another market heavyweight China Mobile<941>, the largest firm by capitalization in the Hong Kong market, also saw an increase of 3.4% to HK$121.7. Its parent began testing homegrown 3G mobile phone networks on Tuesday in eight Chinese cities.

Local property stocks all rose as the market expected the Federal Reserve might cut the interest rate again to prevent the credit crisis from worsening. Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd <16>, the largest house developer in Hong Kong, surged 4.6% to HK$129.5. Henderson Land Development Company Ltd<12> shot up 2.59% to HK$57.55. Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited <1>, one of Hong Kong's largest real-estate developer owned by business giant Li Ka Shing, vaulted nearly 4% to HK$117.8. Hang Lung<101> rocketed 5.91% to HK$29.55.

The financial sectors witnessed great gains yesterday with Mainland's banking and insurance stock listed on the Hong Kong Exchange all rising. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China<601398><1398>, the largest lender in the country, rallied 4.87% to HK$5.81. China Construction Bank<601939><939>, the third-largest bank by market value, increased 4.82% to HK$6.31. Bank of China<601988><3988>, the second-largest bank, ended up 3.82% to HK$3.53. Bank of Communications<601328><3328>, partly owned by HSBC Holdings Plc, added 6.48% to HK$9.86.

China Life<601628><2628>, the country's largest life insurer, jumped 4.41% to HK$28.4. Ping An Insurance (Group) Co<601318><2318> stormed 5.58% to HK$58.7.

Shares of refiners and airlines also rose as oil prices stayed off highs. Sinopec Corp<600028><0386>, Asia's top refiner, soared 6.3% to HK$7.25. Cathay Pacific<0293>, Hong Kong's flag carrier, gained 4.6% to HK$16.32.