20000125

HK blue chips end higher on HSBC e-commerce deal

HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks failed to sustain early gains and ended only moderately higher on Monday, with HSBC Holdings pulling the Hang Seng Index up on news it had formed an e-commerce venture with the Cheung Kong group .

"HSBC and Cheung Kong were the two leaders today, as was Hutchison, but some huge investors lowered their holdings ahead of the FOMC meeting and Chinese New Year holidays," said George Chan, senior analyst at Kwai Hung Securities.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index was up 59.14 points or 0.39 percent at 15,167.55, while the Hang Seng Finance Index surged 2.07 percent to 19,167.79.-Reuters