Hong Kong stocks up 1.51% following Wall Street rally

HONG KONG, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong stocks advanced 249.01 points, or
1.51 percent to close at 16,790.7 on Friday.

Boosted by overnight rally on Wall Street, the benchmark Hang Seng Index
opened higher in the morning and fluctuated in the positive territory throughout
the trading.

The bounce of Hong Kong stocks was believed to have mitigated losses in
previous sessions this week, when share prices tumbled after robust gains in
seven consecutive days.

The day high was 16,953.41 and the day low stood at 16,736.18.

Turnover shriveled to 58.06 billion HK dollars (7.50 billion U.S. dollars),
from Thursday's 63.65 billion HK dollars (8.22 billion U.S. dollars).

Index heavyweight HSBC outperformed by rising 3.1 percent to 64. 3 HK
dollars and the sole market operator HKEx was up 1.7 percent to 103.7 HK
dollars.

Hong Kong-listed Chinese financial companies all registered increase in
share prices. The country's biggest lender ICBC surged3.6 percent to 4.65 HK
dollars; China Construction Bank (CCB), which has been under close scrutinize
among investors after the Bank of America sold large numbers of CCB shares, rose
1.9 percent to 4.79 HK dollars. Insurer Ping An advanced 1.6 percent to 49.35 HK
dollars and its arch rival China Life was up 0.9 percent to 27.55 HK dollars.

Oil-related stocks were all higher, with Sinopec up 1.0 percent to 8.09 HK
dollars, CNOOC up 2.0 percent to 9.98 HK dollars and ChinaPetrol up 1.7 percent
to 6.1 HK dollars.

Local property stocks grabbed a fair share of Friday's market rally. Cheung
Kong, the business conglomerate headed by Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka-shing,
closed 1.4 percent higher at 83.15 HK dollars, while SHK Properties, the leading
residential developer in Hong Kong, gained 1.3 percent to 81.6 HK dollars.

Despite price rise in most blue chips, market observers believe downward
pressure still hangs over the market, citing falling investment figures in the
Chinese mainland and sharp deterioration of GDP in the first quarter in Hong
Kong.

China's Ministry of Commerce announced Friday that the amount of direct
foreign direct investment into China fell 21 percent year on year in the first
four months, signaling that a recovery isn't yet firmly in place in the world
third largest economy.

The Hong Kong SAR government said it would downgrade annual growth
estimation for 2009 as exports and unemployment continue to worsen in the Asian
financial hub. (7.743 HK dollars = 1 U.S. dollar)

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