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HK stocks end higher on blue chip telecoms

HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks ended higher on Wednesday after four days of losses as investors shrugged off renewed China-Taiwan tensions and U.S. Federal Reserve testimony due later in the day.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI rose 0.75 percent or 121.62 points to 16,376.79, after reaching a high of 16,523.65. Turnover was HK$17.80 billion, lower than Tuesday's HK$21.68 billion, on a day when 394 issues rose and 315 fell.

Telecom-related heavyweights that have been battered in recent days were buoyed by a U.K. telecom rally and a U.S. blue chip rise and by investor demand for the Initial Public Offering of tom.com Ltd, analysts said. "The blue chips have been tracking what happens in the Dow overnight, and (Vodafone's) rise (in London) is inevitably going to help Hutchison," said Jack Ruffy, equity salesman at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson Securities.

Hutchison Whampoa Ltd 's share price is now tracking that of Vodafone Airtouch Plc reflecting Hutchison's potential stake in a merged Vodafone-Mannesmann group.

Hutchison, which also said one of its subsidiaries had formed a joint venture to set up an IT resource centre, finished up 2.56 percent or HK$3.00 at HK$120.00. -Reuters