HONG KONG, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index Wednesday went higher 585 points, or 2.8 percent, to 21,805.81 after trading between 21,531.97 and 21,954.17 during the session.
Turnover totaled 74.55 billion HK dollars, up from 63.74 billion HK dollars Tuesday. The rise of the index was attributed to sharp gains in Chinese banks and telecommunications companies, according to analysts.
A director at DBS Vickers Securities Ltd Peter Lai said that the market widely expects a string of stabilization measure will be introduced for the support of the A-share market before the Olympics in August, which will boost Hong Kong shares as well.
He expected the Hang Seng Index to test 25,000 points by the end of this month.
China Merchants Bank ended 5.4 percent higher at 25.30 HK dollars, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China finished 5.1 percent higher at 5.40 HK dollars and China Citic Bank was up 4.3 percent at 4.59 HK dollars on hopes for their earnings.
Some said the local market is expected to resume a rally on the back of positive earnings guidance from Chinese banks.
A research report from HSBC pointed out the large-capitalized Chinese banks are desirable, plus the non-performing loan issue in the sector was not an immediate concern, therefore, their first-half results due next month will be a share-price catalyst.
Among the telecommunications firms, index heavyweight China Mobile rose 1.5 percent to 104.20 HK dollars, China Netcom rose 5.2 percent to 22.30 HK dollars and China Unicom ended 4.7 percent higher at 15.08 HK dollars. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing rose 5.5 percent to 106.60 HK dollars on the increase in turnover
