H-Shares Pushed Up by Positive Mainland Sentiment

The Hang Seng Index expanded 0.88% to close at 21,237.43 on Monday, March 29, in main board trading volume of HK$54.59 billion. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index improved 1.37%.

Among the most actively traded shares on Monday were mainland banking and insurance heavyweights, lending upside strength to the Hong Kong index. Insurers Ping An Insurance (Group) (2318.HK, 601318.SH) and China Life (NYSE:LFC, 2628.HK, 601628.SH) added 2.41% and 2.07%, respectively, while Bank of China (3988.HK, 601988.SH) increased 2.01%. China Construction Bank (0939.HK, 601939.SH) rose 0.99% after reporting strong growth in lending last year.

Resources stocks posted significant gains, with mainland based coal companies taking the lead. Pan Asia Mining (8173.HK) rose 33.33%, China Shenhua Energy (1088.HK) grew 3.21%, China Coal Energy (1898.HK, 601898.SH) increased 2.04%. Hexun reported that a number of brokerages believe mainland coal stocks are undervalued.

Aluminum Corporation of China (Chalco) (NYSE:ACH, 2600.HK, 601600.SH) lost 0.58% after announcing a net loss for 2009. Huadian Power Corp (1071.HK) reported net profit of RMB 1.16 billion in 2009, compared with a loss last year of RMB 2.56 billion, as well as revenue growth of 21.51% year-on-year to RMB 36.45 billion, but shares in the company sank 3.24% on Monday. Great Wall Motor Co (2333.HK) reported annual profit growth of 99.4% to RMB 1.02b, after car sales picked up 74.2% on an annual basis. The company's stock fell 4.70% on Monday.

Far East Global set its initial public offering (IPO) price at HK$1.18 per share and was more than twice oversubscribed, the company announced March 29. Far East Global expects to raise approximately HK$283.5 million in net proceeds from the IPO, under the ticker "0830.HK."