Investment Daily Note

US stocks mixed; Dow up 20 pts .

Utilities stocks gained in the US market despite the fall of industrial production and consumer confidence index. US stocks ended mixed. Dow closed at 18,272, up 20 points. S&P 500 closed at 2,122, up 1 point. NASDAQ closed at 5,048, down 2 points. ADRs rose in the US market, with their closing prices effectively putting HSI up 104 points, closing at 27,927. Oil prices fell slightly on enduring market worries over supply and demand imbalance. New York crude oil futures closed at US$59.69/bbl, down US$0.19. Gold prices inched higher. New York gold futures settled at US$1,225.30/oz, up US$0.10.

HSI rose on HK-SZ connect speculations, but turnover weak .

The US announced last Thursday night its April PPI at -0.4%, cooling market concerns over a US rate rise in the second half of the year. But the Hang Seng Index was unimpressed, retreating to 27,315 after opening 173 points higher. In afternoon session, the Index was spurred by renewed speculations the Hong Kong-Shenzhen stock connect programme would be announced soon, which last stood at 27,822, up 535 points. The HSCEI settled at 14,009, up 233 points. Market turnover was only average, at HK$137.8bn. Heavyweights AIA (1299.HK, HK$52.35), China Mobile (941.HK, HK$109.00) and HKEX (388.HK, HK$289.60) gained 3.9%, 3.6% and 5.0% respectively. Chinese telecoms announced price cut and network-speed boost plans, which were seen as measures to gain new subscribers. China Telecom (728.HK, HK$5.73) and China Unicom (762.HK, HK$14.12) climbed 3.8% and 2.0% respectively. CKH Holdings (1.HK, HK$168.50) and Hutchison (13.HK, HK$115.20) moved 4.0% and 4.3% upper after Hutchison said results on legal proceedings regarding corporate reorganisation proposal would be released on Tuesday. The Hang Seng Indexes Company Limited announced after market close there was no change to the HSI constituents, while the HSCEI removed Weigao Group (1066.HK, HK$6.75) and Weichai Power (2338.HK, HK$29.15) and added CGN Power (1816.HK, HK$4.39) and Wanda Comm (3699.HK, HK$69.60).