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HK stocks close higher on Wall Street, tech sector

HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks closed sharply higher on Wednesday, kickstarted by a Wall Street rebound, and helped by blue chip Hutchison Whampoa Ltd's deal with US e-commerce firm Priceline.com.

"We've had a good rebound in the market, especially of companies that have dropped lately such as Hutchison, Cheung Kong and China Telecom," said Karfield Fung, vice president of Daiwa Securities.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index jumped 324.68 points or 2.15 percent to 15,427.72, just short of its high of the day of 15,452.72.

Computer-related stocks were boosted after Hutchison said it had formed an alliance to introduce US Internet firm Priceline.com's "name-your-own-price" platform to Asia.

Hutchison said it would seek separate listings of its technology-related projects, with Internet portal TOM.COM Ltd the first to be listed.

Hutchison rose HK$3.50 or 3.37 percent to end at HK$107.50 while its parent, Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd, rose HK$3.50 or 3.70 percent to HK$98.00. The two companies contributed about 97.83 index points to the Hang Seng's rise.-Reuters