Investment Daily Note

US stocks spurred by GE restructure .

General Electric Company (GE) announced to repurchase up to US$50bn worth of stock and dispose most of its real estate assets. US stocks were driven higher. Dow closed at 18,057, up 98 points. S&P 500 closed at 2,102, up 10 points. NASDAQ closed at 4,995, up 21 points. ADRs rose in the US market, with their closing prices effectively putting HSI up 135 points, closing at 27,047. Oil prices turned firm on market expectations that the impact of Iran issues on crude supply might not surface until after next year. New York crude oil futures closed at US$51.64/bbl, up US$0.85. Gold prices gained on increased buy orders for gold in Europe. New York gold futures settled at US$1,200.40/oz, up US$6.80.

Southbound trading daily quota not used up; shipping stocks spotlighted .

The HSI gained 328 points to 27,272 last Friday. The HSCEI gained 239 points to 13,987. Market turnover was HK$221.1bn. Unused daily quota for Southbound trading last Friday was HK$5.1bn, with HK$10.4bn buy trades and HK$4.7bn sell trades. Some stocks took a breather last Friday after days of rallies. Mengniu Dairy (2319.HK, HK$43.35) retreated 4.1% to become the worst-performing blue chip. Tsingtao Brew (168.HK, HK$54.35) also slipped 4.2% and was the top loser among HSCEI constituents. Investors rushed into shipping stocks, with China COSCO (1919.HK, HK$6.19) and CSCL (2866.HK, HK$3.81) up by 11.1% and 7.6% respectively. HKEX (388.HK, HK$249.00) continued to be chased higher, up 3.9% at close. GF Sec (1776.HK, HK$25.4) was over-subscribed by 181X, closing its debut trading day 34.7% higher than the offer price.