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HK Hot Stocks - Coal miners gain; Melco tanks

Published: 02 Jul 2009 19:27:02 PST

HONG KONG, July 3 - By 0310 the benchmark Hang Seng Index was 0.5 percent lower at 18,088.09.

The China Enterprises Index, which represents top locally listed mainland Chinese stocks, had fallen 0.6 percent to 10,898.73

Here are some of the stocks on the move in early trade-

* Coal stocks rose on Friday after following a news report that China's power output in June increased 3.6 percent from a year earlier, its first increase since October.

The world's most valuable coal miner China Shenhua rose 2.7 percent, while Yanzhou Coal inched up 0.7 percent.

However, output in the first half of this year still declined 2.02 percent from a year earlier, the China Securities Journal said on Friday, citing data from the State Grid Corp of China, China's main grid operator.

* Casino operator Melco International Development fell 4.8 percent to HK$3.97 after Credit Suisse cut its rating on the stock, as well as on shares in its 34.06 percent owned associate Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd to "underperform" from "neutral" following the below-expectations debut of its new casino in Macau.

Melco Crown's City of Dreams casino in the Chinese gambling haven notched up a rolling chip turnover of $1.94 billion in its opening month in June, but the casino only won 0.8 percent of those bets as compared with an expected win rate of 2.85 percent.

"Even having adjusted for the high-roller win percentage, City of Dreams' market share in June would have been 6.9 percent, still below street expectation of 8-10 percent," Credit Suisse analyst Gabriel Chan said while cutting the target price on the stock to HK3.40 from HK$6.

* Hunan Nonferrous Metals shed 2.6 percent after it warned of losses in the six months ended in June as the average selling price of lead and zinc products remained low and demand for tungsten and antimony products were unsatisfactory. The company posted a profit of 190.5 million yuan in the same period a year ago.

* China Grand Forestry retreated 5.3 percent after it said it might record a loss for the year ended March, mainly as a result of non-cash revaluation losses, a substantial increase in attributable non-cash financial costs to be amortised and a drop in sales.