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HK rallies, telecoms gain
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March 3, 2000: 5:55 a.m. ET
Hang Seng ends up 2% amid C&W HKT rebound; Sony pulls Tokyo down
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Hong Kong's leading index closed up more than 2 percent Friday as strong demand for telecom stocks hoisted Cable & Wireless HKT out of its nearly week-long decline while fueling sharp gains in China Telecom. Tokyo's Nikkei fell below 20,000 points, pulled down by Sony Corp. and other high-tech heavyweights.
The Japanese decline came after the U.S. Nasdaq Composite index fell 29.56 points, or 0.62 percent, to 4,754.52 Thursday, a day after posting its 13th record closing of the year. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average edged up 26.99 points, or 0.27 percent, to 10,164.92, while the broader S&P 500 eked out a small gain.
Tokyo's bellwether Nikkei Average closed down 137.57 points, or 0.7 percent, at 19,927.54 Friday. Traders were cautious ahead of a U.S. February employment report for February due out later. Strong numbers could give the Federal Reserve an extra argument for raising interest rates in the U.S. economy, a key export market for Japanese goods.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng ended up 348.43 points, or 2.06 percent, at 17,285.24, amid brisk demand for Cable & Wireless HKT, which leapt 6.5 percent to HK$23.70. That was a rebound from the stock's sharp falls in recent sessions after the terms of Pacific Century CyberWorks' offer to buy a 54 percent stake in HKT from U.K.-based Cable & Wireless emerged. PCCW jumped 5.8 percent to HK$21.90.
"People are expecting telecoms to be the high-growth sector and that there will be more big mergers and acquisitions," Jason Tang, institutional salesman at South China Securities, told Reuters.
Elsewhere in the Pacific Rim region, a strong rally in shares of media giant News Corp. propelled Australia's main index to a record close. The benchmark All Ordinaries index ended up 5.8 points, or 0.2 percent, at 3,225.8 after earlier hitting a fresh intraday high of 3,255.7. News Corp., which has been in demand since Time Warner and America Online unveiled merger plans in January, closed up 6.4 percent at a record A$27.50. News Corp. represents 17.6 percent of the benchmark index. Without its rally, Reuters calculated, the All Ordinaries would have fallen 26 points Friday.
The Straits Times Index in Singapore ended up 0.3 percent at 2,117.03, buoyed by strength in electronics-related stocks such as NatSteel Electronics, Datacraft, Venture and Creative.
In South Korea, the leading Kospi index ended little changed at 894.83 as a sell-off by local investors offset net buying by overseas investors.
In currency markets, the U.S. dollar was quoted at around 107.46 yen, a notch weaker than its late level in New York Thursday of 107.65 yen.
Oil prices tumbled in Asia Friday after hitting a nine-year high in New York overnight, as investors reacted to OPEC hints of a possible impending hike in output. Benchmark crude was quoted at $29.14 a barrel, down 8 cents from its New York close Thursday at $29.22. During Thursday's session, crude hit a nine-year peak of $29.47.
On the corporate front, the technology losses in Tokyo hogged the spotlight. Consumer electronics giant Sony Corp. fell 4 percent to 31,000 yen, while telecom giant NTT shed 2 percent to close at 1.49 million yen. Bellwether tech stocks also led sharp declines on Tokyo's broader TOPIX index. Internet investor Softbank Corp. fell 6.7 percent to 139,000 yen and NTT subsidiary NTT DoCoMo tumbled 5.4 percent 4.17 million yen.
In Hong Kong, property conglomerates Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong (Holdings) both posted gains. Legend Holdings rallied 10 percent, after earlier rising as much as 31.6 percent, on news of an exclusive deal to provide PCCW's China broadband service with computer hardware. SmarTone Communications advanced 10.1 percent.
Among smaller markets, the weighted index in Taiwan closed up nearly half a percent at 9,588.03 amid firm demand for technology shares. Optimism was muted by tensions with China over the issue of reunification talks and edginess ahead of the March 18 presidential election.
In Kuala Lumpur, stocks closed up 0.7 percent as traders stood by for more details of state-owned oil firm Petronas's plan to buy a stake in Proton, the national automaker.
Jakarta shares ended 0.4 percent higher, recouping a fraction of their losses from Thursday's 3.4 percent fall. Manila shares ended up 1.8 percent, buoyed by domestic bargain hunters, while Thai shares fell more than 2 percent. 
--from staff and wire reports
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