Asian Markets Update: Hong Kong Stocks Fall on Fears of Hutchison Credit Downgrade
HONG KONG -- Stocks across Asia were mostly lower on Wednesday after an overnight fall in technology stocks on Wall Street. Markets in Japan were closed and will only reopen on Monday after a series of national holidays.
In Hong Kong, the benchmark
Hang Seng
index fell 240.29 points or 1.5% to 15,577.47, dragged down by index heavyweight
Hutchison Whampoa,
(HUWHY)
which fell HK$4.00, or 3.5%, to 109.50 after rating company
Standard & Poor's
put it on CreditWatch. S&P's concern is that Hutchison is taking on lots of debt to fund a 4.4 billion-pound sterling, third-generation mobile phone license in the U.K., the bidding for which it won last week. Hutchison parent
Cheung Kong Holdings
fell 0.75, or 0.8%, to 92.00.
Index heavyweight
China Telecom
(CHL) - Get Report
fell 2.00, or 3.2%, to 60.00, while British banking group
HSBC
(HBC)
fell 0.25 to 86.25. Computer-maker
Legend
(LGHLY)
was down 0.50, or 5.1%, to 9.30. As a measure of how far the company could still fall, it now trades at 233 times earnings.
Cathay Pacific Airways
(CPCAY)
rose 10 cents, or 0.74%, to 13.60, after it said it bought back more than 1 million shares yesterday for between 13.50 and 14.00.
Amoy Properties
(AMOPY)
bought back 300,000 shares at 5.60 and closed today unchanged at that price. A list of all company buybacks is issued daily by the exchange at www.sehk.com.hk.
In Australian trading, phone company
Telstra
(TLS)
fell 2% to A$7.08 after its debt was downgraded on concerns that a $1.5 billion loan to Hong Kong's
Pacific Century CyberWorks
weakens Telstra's finances. PCCW is hoping this week to secure the approval of
Cable & Wireless Plc
for the takeover of the British company's subsidiary,
Cable & Wireless HKT
(HKT)
. Stocks were also hit after the Reserve Bank of Australia raised its overnight cash rate by 25 basis points.
Newscorp
(NWS) - Get Report
lost A$0.40 to 21.90.
The tech-driven
Taiwan Weighted
index fell to its lowest level this year, dropping 218.75 points, or 2.53%, to 8420.00.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
(TSM) - Get Report
fell NT$5.00, or 2.6%, to 188.00. TSMC's competitor,
United Microelectronics Corp.
, fell 5.00, or 4.7%, to 102.00. Also contributing to the fall were renewed reports of military activity by China, which was upset by the election to Taiwan's presidency in March of the pro-independence party's candidate, Chen Shui-bian.
Singapore's benchmark
Straits Times
index fell 21.96 points, or 1%, to 2144.89.
Keppel Land
fell 0.30, or 1.4%, to 2.05,
Jardine Matheson
fell 2%, or $0.80, at $3.96, while
Singapore Airlines
rose S$0.30, or 1.7%, to 17.80.
