Posted by
Larry Bristow on Saturday, November 29, 2008 6:57:06 AM
Hong Kong's key stock index advanced for a fourth straight
session Friday as investors bet Wall Street will extend gains when
trade resumes following the Thanksgiving holiday.
The
blue chip Hang Seng index rose 336.18 points, or 2.5 percent, to
13,888.24.
The benchmark index has gained 9.7 percent
this week, during which the Chinese government slashed a key interest
rate by the largest amount in 11 years to spur economic growth and the
U.S. government announced a bailout of
Citigroup.
Analysts said investors anticipated the
Dow Jones industrial average would extend recent gains after the U.S.
stock market was closed Thursday for
Thanksgiving.
"Investors are having some wishful
thinking that the U.S. stocks will continue to rise as market
sentiments are improving," said Conita Hung, head of research at Delta
Asia Securities.
Most stocks gained Friday except
Chinese financials. Telecom heavyweight China Mobile added 2.3 percent
to 71.10 Hong Kong dollars. China Unicom rose 6.6 percent to HK$9.56,
China Telecom was 3.5 percent higher at HK$2.95.
In
commodities, upstream oil producer CNOOC soared 5.8 percent to HK$6.25
and Sinopec gained 3.2 to HK$5.15.
Bucking the trend,
top lender ICBC lost 0.5 percent to HK$3.80 while China Contruction
Bank dropped 2.6 percent.
Insurer Ping An insurance
fell 5.7 percent to HK$29.25. Rival China Life was off 2.7 percent to
HK$19.94.