Commodities

Thursday October 29, 01:52 AM
HK shares seen lower after Wall St sinks; eyes oil stocks

HONG KONG, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks may fall for a a third straight session on Thursday, tracking losses on Wall Street, with focus on oil companies after PetroChina reported a drop in profit. PetroChina, the world's second

most valuable oil and gas producer after Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM - news) , posted a 23.5 percent decline in quarterly net profit as the steep global slide in crude oil prices weighed on earnings. 'The stock market will be in full retreat,' said Francis Lun, general manager at Fulbright Securities. 'People think that the era of loose monetary policy and lower interest rates is coming to an end, so that will be bad for the global economy.' PetroChina's weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings could bode ill for rival refiner Sinopec as a double whammy of regulated fuel prices in its home market and an uncertain outlook for crude oil prices could cut into margins. Wall Street dropped on Wednesday as investors dumped shares after new U.S. home sales unexpectedly fell in September and raised concerns about the pace of the economic recovery. and The benchmark Hang Seng Index closed down 1.84 percent on Wednesday to its lowest in over a week. STOCKS TO WATCH: * Ford Motor Co named Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, a major shareholder of Geely Automobile Holdings, as preferred bidder for its loss-making Swedish unit Volvo (Stockholm: VOLV-B.ST - news) in what could lead to the biggest overseas acquisition by China's fast-growing auto sector. * Nine Dragons Paper (2689.HK - news) said it would sell HK$2.87 billion ($370 million) worth of new shares to its controlling shareholder, raising funds for repayment of bank borrowings and general working capital. * Zijin Mining said its net profit for 3-month quarter ended in September rose 15.1 percent to 957.96 million yuan in accordance to Chinese accounting standards due to increase in sales and production. For statement please click http://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/20091028/LTN20091028592.pdf * Lianhua Supermarket Holdings said its operating revenue amounted to 17.78 billion yuan for 9-month ended in September and net profit was at 329.9 million yuan in accordance to Chinese accounting standard. It gave no comparison figures. For statement please click http://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/20091028/LTN20091028446.pdf * HSBC Holdings (LSE: HSBA.L - news) and Bank of Communications plan to transfer their joint credit card activities in China into a new company to tap into expected strong growth in the world's most populous country. * Bank of Communications (BoCom), China's fifth-largest lender, posted a flat quarterly net profit as lower margins offset the benefit of loan expansion, but analysts expect profitability to improve as the economy recovers. --------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2247 GMT ------------ INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 1091.06 -0.62% -6.850 USD/JPY 90.7 0.01% 0.010 10-YR US TSY YLD 3.3407 -- 0.000 SPOT GOLD 1054.55 0.05% 0.550 US CRUDE 78.79 -0.42% -0.330 DOW JONES (news) 10041.48 -0.50% -50.71 ------------------------------------------------------------ > Wall St ends lower on profit taking; Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO - news) up late > Dollar rallies from 14-month low vs euro > Prices up on housing weakness, subdued inflation > Gold slips below $1,060/oz as dollar rebounds > Oil falls from 10-yr high over $80, US data weighs (Reporting by Jun Ebias; Editing by Kazunori Takada)