Hong Kong shares ended flat Friday, as a decline in heavyweight China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd. offset further gains in property firms led by Cheung Kong Holdings, REPORTED AP. The blue-chip Hang Seng Index edged just 2.39 points higher to 19,692.64. The index ended the week nearly 4 percent higher. «The market is still worried about some uncertainties including the U.S. sub-prime lending problem, but once that clears up it should resume its uptrend,» said Castor Pang, a strategist at SHK Financial Ltd. Recent U.S. indicators have been mixed, and investors are concerned about the outlook for the country's housing market, traders said. Hong Kong investors follow U.S. economic data closely because the local currency is tied to the U.S. dollar and the U.S. economy is a major export market. Cell phone operator China Mobile, which has the second-biggest weighting in the blue-chip index, fell 1.9 percent to HK$70.95. The decline offset a 0.5 percent gain by HSBC, the index's largest stock, which ended at HK$137.20. Property shares outperformed the general market, led by Cheung Kong after it reported a 29 percent jump in 2006 net profit to HK$18.08 billion. Cheung Kong, the property flagship of tycoon Li Ka-shing, rose 0.9 percent to HK$97.75. Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. rose 0.9 percent to HK$91.05, while Henderson Land Development Co. rose 0.3 percent to HK$44.10. Cheung Kong's affiliate Hutchison Whampoa, also owned by Li, ended 0.6 percent higher at HK$75.85 after saying Thursday its earnings last year rose 40 percent to HK$20.03 billion on a narrowing loss in its third-generation business. China-related shares also advanced. Oil major Sinopec rose 3.2 percent to HK$6.48, while PetroChina advanced 1.4 percent to HK$8.78.
