Wednesday's Asia ADR Recap

The stocks from China and India making moves and news in the U.S.

Author:: Stockpickr Staff
Publish date:: Apr 16, 2008 7:11 PM EDT

The stocks from China and India making moves and news in the U.S.

Updated from 5:38 p.m. EDT

Indian stocks advanced Wednesday as technology majors continued to show momentum a day after information technology leader

Infosys Technologies

(INFY) - Get Report

posted strong fourth-quarter earnings and provided a bullish full-year forecast.

Dealers in the Far East said that investor sentiment is improving, backed by the strong follow-through performance in technology shares. Market players are becoming more confident that a tradable bottom is now in place for Indian equity markets as volatility subsides and the markets return to focusing on fundamentals.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark 30-stock Sensex Index finished up 90.5 points, or 0.6%, at 16,244.

Bangalore-based information technology company

Wipro Limited

(WIT) - Get Report

announced it will be partnering with Credit Suisse in the design and operation of a human resource service center in Wroclaw, Poland. Under the terms of the agreement, Wipro will provide support to more than 20,000 Credit Suisse employees located in Switzerland, according to

dnaindia.com

. American depositary shares of Wipro, which trade on the

NYSE

, finished up 2.9% at $11.93.

Indian technology ADRs continued to add to gains Wednesday as investors hoped for more bullish earnings reports out of the sector.

Patni Computer Systems

(PTI) - Get Report

led the group, trading up 6.2% to $13.54; Infosys added 3% to $40.88; and

Cognizant Technology Solutions

(CTSH) - Get Report

jumped 2.3% to $30.

Leading Indian communications provider

Tata Communications

( TCL) announced it has won two awards at the 2008 Nemertes Pilot House Awards, which was held during the FutureNet conference in Boston. Tata was recognized in two "emerging carrier" categories for best technology innovation: customer experience and MPLS services, according to a company press release Shares of Tata added 2.8% to $24.50.

Among the big gainers for Indian ADRs Wednesday were

HDFC Bank

(HDB) - Get Report

, which jumped 5% to $103;

Icici Bank

(IBN) - Get Report

, which added 4.2% to $41.91; and

Sterlite Industries

(SLT) - Get Report

, which traded up 3.7% to $21.

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 slipped Wednesday on concerns over inflation at 11-year highs and slowing economic growth. Dealers in the region said official data on inflation and growth did little to calm the nerves of local market players.

Chinese government data showed that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 10.6% in the January-March period from a year earlier, vs. 11.2% in the last three months of 2007. China's GDP growth for all of 2007 was 11.9%. China's consumer price index fell to 8.3% in March from a year earlier, down marginally from 8.7% in February. The measure of producer prices spiked 8% in March, vs. 6.6% in February.

"A view that the Chinese government might raise interest rates to control inflation and fixed investments pulled down the Shanghai market and had a spillover impact on the Hong Kong market," said Eric Yuen, head of research at Dao Heng Securities.

The Shanghai Composite Index added 51.7 points, or 1.6%, to 3,348, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 23 points, or 0.1%, to 23,878.

Chinese alternative energy company

Trina Solar

(TSL)

surged higher by 4.9% after Friedman Billings Ramsey analyst Mehdi Hosseini upgraded the stock to market perform from underperform and raised his price target to $48 from $25, citing Trina's decision to cancel plans for a $1 billion polysilicon plant. Hosseini also bumped up his 2008 revenue numbers to $794 million from $716 million. American depositary shares of Tata finished up $2.08 at $44.55.

Leading Chinese online game developer

Shanda Interactive

( SNDA) announced it has granted an exclusive right to India-based

Zapak Digital Entertainment

to operate its online racing game Crazy Kart in India. The deal marks a milestone for Shanda, its first commercial launch into the Indian market. Shares of Shanda ripped higher by 7% to $28.37.

Chinese oil and natural gas behemoth

Cnooc

(CEO) - Get Report

announced it has taken an 80% stake in private oil company

Hangzhou Kangbo Petroleum

, according to

Xinhua News Agency

. Hangzhou Kangbo operates three gasoline stations and an oil depot in east China's Zhejiang Province. "Cnooc plans to build 1,000 gasoline stations and oil depots in Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and Bohai Rim by 2010," said Li Maolin, managing director of the company's refining and petrochemical unit. Shares of Cnooc rose 5.8% to $172.

Elsewhere in the Chinese energy sector,

Huaneng Power International

(HNP) - Get Report

said its first-quarter net profit will decrease by over 50% compared to the same period last year due to the sharp rise in thermal coal prices. China's largest electricity operator also said total power generation came in at 46.1 billion kilowatt-hours from January to March, which is an increase of over 18% over the same period last year. Shares of HNP dropped 3.5% to $26.53 on the news.

Chinese Internet stocks were in play Wednesday as investors bid up shares ahead of

Google's

(GOOG) - Get Report

earnings report set for Thursday. Market players are hoping a strong report out of Google will bode well for the entire global Internet complex.

Sohu.com

(SOHU) - Get Report

ripped higher by 10% to $55.11;

SINA

(SINA) - Get Report

jumped 10.2% to $39.81; and

Baidu.com

(BIDU) - Get Report