Hong Kong stocks end higher as property sector gains

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

HONG KONG, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong stocks closed slightly higher Fridays as property sector led the moderate gains, but a fall in China-related stocks, or H shares, limited the rise to resume 16,000 level.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 18.28 points, or 0.12 percent, to 15,601.27 after hitting an intraday high of 15,956.46. The index gained 7.1 percent, or 1,055 points, this week. Turnover rose to 75.30 billion HK dollars (about 9.73 billion US dollars) from Thursday's 74.63 billion HK dollars (about 9.64 billion US dollars).

Cheung Kong rose 0.9 percent to 76.76 HK dollars, but was off its intraday high of 79.60 HK dollars. It said it sold more than 90 percent of 1,068 units in a residential project in the New Territories since its launch Thursday.

Goldman Sachs also upgraded its view on the Hong Kong property sector to neutral from cautious, following the report, Sino Land jumped 9.8 percent to 10.24 HK dollars and Hang Lung Properties rose 1.7 percent to 21.30 percent.

Among the H shares, Chalco shed 4.5 percent to 6.22 HK dollars. PetroChina dropped 1.5 percent to 6.73 HK dollars and China Construction Bank was off 0.8 percent at 4.70 HK dollars.

Cathay Pacific fell 3.4 percent to 9.25 HK dollars. The Hong Kong-based airline said Friday its first-quarter revenue from passenger and cargo services fell 22.4 percent from a year ago, and it was to ask some staff to take unpaid leave.

The airline reported a net loss of 8.6 billion Hong Kong dollars (1.1 billion U.S. dollars) for 2008, a dramatic turnaround from the previous year's profit of 7 billion HK dollars. The company will also reduce passenger and cargo capacity.

HKEx rose 0.5 percent to 89.35, but off intraday high of 91.95 HK dollars.

Mengniu rose 4.83 percent to 13.02 HK dollars on rebound after Thursday's 5.6 percent decline on worse-than-expected 2008 results. After hit by melamine scandal last year, Mengniu's sales of liquid milk recovered rapidly, as first quarter sales volume had recovered to 80 percent of pre-melamine crisis level.