Thursday's Asia ADR Recap: China Unicom

Stockpickr Staff

India's Sensex Index recaptured the 15,000 level during an extremely volatile trading session Thursday. The Sensex fell 437 points in early trading hitting 14,747.99, before mounting an amazing comeback following the release of industrial data. India's industrial output, which is measured by the Index of Industrial Production, jumped 7% in April, vs. 3.9% for March and manufacturing production gained 7.5% in April, vs. 2.9% in March.

"The stocks were oversold which triggered a counter rally later in the day, while better than expected IIP figures also provided a slight positive push," said Rajesh Jain, vice president of SMC Global.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex Index traded up 65 points, or 0.43%, to 15,250.85. Here's a look at how some India-based American depositary shares traded in the U.S. on Thursday.

According to Bloomberg, India's third biggest software service company, Wipro(WIT), is bidding for 12 contracts worth around $100 million each in an effort to compete with Indian information technology heavyweights Infosys Technologies(INFY) and Tata Consultancy Services. American depositary shares of Wipro, which trade on the NYSE, jumped 4.4% to $13.25 and American depositary shares of Infosys rose 3.4% to $46.43.

Rediff.com(REDF), an Indian online provider of news, information, communication, entertainment and shopping services, has launched a toolbar for Firefox 3 a leading Internet Web browser. The new toolbar will assist users in searching the Web for jobs, products, images, videos, ringtones and languages. The company's toolbar will also allow users to view updated news on business, sports and movies and allow users to access company products like instant messenger. Shares of Rediff finished essentially flat at $6.86.

Some big gainers among Indian ADRs Thursday were ICICI Bank(IBN), which soared 8.1% to $35.28; Tata Motors(TTM), which ripped higher by 6.2% to $12.48; Satyam Computer(SAY); which jumped 5.6% to $26.76; and HDFC Bank(HDB), which rose 4.4% to $84.11.

Be sure to check out the Far East Portfolio at Stockpickr.com every night to find out which stocks in India and China are making big moves and announcing major news.

China Recap

Chinese stocks continued to decline on Thursday with the Shanghai Index breaking below the psychologically important level of 3,000, despite official data that showed inflation cooled off in May. China's consumer prices index slowed to 7.7% for May, vs. 8.5% in April, according to the National Bureau of Statistics Web site. The easing in the inflation reading was due to a drop in food prices. May food prices came in at 19.9%, which was 2.2% lower than in April.

"Investors are feeling hopeless, not just pessimistic," said Zhang Linchang, a strategist at Guotai Junan Securities in Shanghai.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 66.71 points, or 2.2%, to 2,957.53 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 303.74 points, or 1.3%, to 23,023.86. Here's a look at how some China-based American depositary shares traded in the U.S. on Thursday.

Shares of Chinese medical device company China Medical Technologies(CMED) soared 17% after the company reported strong fourth-quarter earnings and gave a bullish outlook for the rest of 2008. The company said fourth-quarter earnings were RMB 133.6 million ($19.1 million), or RMB 4.66 (66 cents) per share, vs. RMB 83.7 million, or RMB 3.37 from a year earlier. Revenues nearly doubled to RMB 284.2 million ($40.5 million), vs. RMB 163.1 million from a year ago. Looking forward, China Medical said adjusted earnings will come in at $2.87 to $2.96 a share, vs. Wall Street estimates of $2.55 a share and revenues will fall between the range of RMB 1.19 billion to RMB 1.23 billion ($169.7 million to $175.5 million), vs. estimates of $161.9 million. American depositary shares of China Medical, which trade on the Nasdaq, jumped $5.84 to $39.28 on extremely heavy volume.

William Blair & Company started coverage on E-House(EJ), a Chinese real estate services company, with an outperform rating and aggressive growth company profile. The firm predicted that the company could earn 81 cents a share for 2008 and $1.13 a share for 2009. Shares of E-House rose 7 cents to $11.68.

Chinese leader in the design, engineering, fabrication and installation of high-end building envelope systems, China Architectural Engineering(CAEI), announced it has appointed Miu Cheung, managing director and head of the structured finance group at CITIC Capital Holdings, to its board of directors. Cheung brings 14 years of experience in investment banking, corporate finance and investment management to the board. Shares of China Architectural Engineering dove 11% to $9.05.

Deutsche Bank raised its rating on China Unicom(CHU), a telecommunications and Internet service provider, from sell to hold. In a note to clients the firm said, "Concerns over integration now seem discounted, but little upside expected during due diligence phase. China Unicom shares have plummeted 25% since resuming trading on June 2nd, this against a 2% decline in the Hang Seng index over the same period." Shares of China Unicom surged 5.3% to $18.42.

Elsewhere in the Chinese telecommunications sector, Beijing-based AsiaInfo(ASIA) announced it has won a contract with China Telecom(CHA) to develop an Operational Data Store system for both Xinjinag Telecom and Northern Telecom, the northern division of China Telecom that operates in nine provinces in Northern China. AsiaInfo's Operation Data Store systems will help China Telecom better understand its customers behavior and help examine customer information from a single view. Shares of AsiaInfo traded up 2.7% to $13.13 and shares of China Telecom advanced 2.5% to $59.13.

Be sure to check out the Far East Portfolio at Stockpickr.com every night to find out which stocks in India and China are making big moves and announcing major news.

For more on Asia, check out Daniel Harrison's coverage at TheStreet.com.

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