HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks rose 245.7 points on the Hang Seng Index yesterday, as developers gained on optimism the city's economic growth has accelerated and as shipping companies advanced on higher rates.

The city's benchmark index climbed 1.2 percent to close at 20,623.00, for the second-straight day of gains. Shares also rose after the Al-Ittihad newspaper said Dubai's government allocated 18.3 billion dirhams ($5 billion) to Dubai World on a commercial basis. However, the report's subject was not new, a spokeswoman of the emirate's Department of Finance said.

"The Dubai news may be helping the developers in Hong Kong," said Ayako Sera, a market strategist at Tokyo-based Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co, which manages about $300 billion.

"The property market is linked quite closely to Dubai, so they tend to move up on any good news."

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks the H-shares of Hong Kong-listed mainland companies, climbed 0.9 percent to 11,619.68.

Henderson Land advanced 4.2 percent to HK$52.25. Sun Hung Kai climbed 3.4 percent to HK$105.60. Shimao Property Holdings Ltd, the mainland developer controlled by billionaire Xu Rongmao, rose 5.2 percent to HK$12.62.

Hong Kong's gross domestic product, to be officially announced today, is expected to increase a seasonally adjusted 2 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, according to a Bloomberg survey. That's more than the 0.4 percent gain in the third quarter.

China Shipping Development, a dry-bulk shipment operator, jumped 4.6 percent to HK$12.84, the sharpest gain on the H-share index. China Shipping Container Lines Co, the country's second-largest carrier of sea-cargo boxes, climbed 1 percent to HK$3.13.

China Cosco Holdings Co, the world's biggest operator of dry-bulk ships, advanced 1.8 percent to HK$9.71.

Ping An Insurance (Group) Co lost 2 percent to HK$59.70, tracking declines in its Shanghai-traded shares, after the insurer said 859.8 million A-shares held by three shareholders will become tradable on March 1.

China Daily/Bloomberg News

(HK Edition 02/24/2010 page2)