A woman passes by an electronic board in front of a bank in Hong Kong, south China, Oct. 15, 2007. Hong Kong stocks surged 702.41 points to a record close at 29,540.78 on Oct. 15 while the H-shares also set a closing record, due to sharp gains in heavyweight China Mobile and Chinese oil companies. (Xinhua Photo)

    HONG KONG, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong stocks surged 702.41 points to a record close at 29,540.78 on Monday while the H-shares also set a closing record, due to sharp gains in heavyweight China Mobile and Chinese oil companies.

    The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 702.41 points, or 2.4 percent, to end at 29,540.78, retreating slightly after hitting an intraday record of 29,561.98.

    H-share index, which reflected the performance of state-owned companies registered in China's mainland, soared 3.52 percent to 19,752.67 as stocks on the Chinese mainland set a new record Monday by breaching the psychological 6,000 mark for the first time.

    Turnover dropped to 174.46 billion HK dollars (22.53 billion U.S. dollars) from Friday's 195.28 billion HK dollars (25.22 billionU.S. dollars).

    Experts said expectations of continued strong economic growth in China, evident from the ample liquidity in the region, will likely keep the territory's stock market in a bull run in the near future.

    China Mobile, Hong Kong's biggest blue chip by market capitalization, rose 6 percent to 141.60 Hong Kong dollars after UBS, a global financial services company, raised its target price to 178.00 Hong Kong dollars from 128.00 Hong Kong dollars, saying the company's value-added services will be an important earnings growth driver.

    Shares of China's three biggest oil companies all closed at record highs, after the crude oil futures price in New York Mercantile Exchange rose to a record 84.05 U.S. dollars a barrel Friday.

    Blue-chip Cnooc rose 9.7 percent to 14.86 Hong Kong dollars, while Sinopec jumped 13.7 percent to 12.96 Hong Kong dollars.

    PetroChina, the country's largest oil producer, ended 13 percent higher at 18.78 Hong Kong dollars, also boosted by faster-than-expected oil output growth in the third quarter and an imminent A-share initial public offering. The brokerage house CLSA raised target price on PetroChina to 20.00 Hong Kong dollars from 15.00 Hong Kong dollars on output and reserve growth and better efficiency at its refineries.

    Sino Land on Monday won a site put up for sale in Lantau Island with a bid for 482 million Hong Kong dollars (62.24 million U.S. dollars), 141 percent higher than the minimum price. The company also bought a site jointly with K. Wah and unlisted Nan Fung Groupfor residential development at a government land auction for a higher-than-expected 5.71 billion Hong Kong dollars (737.35 million U.S. dollars). Sino Land rose 2.4 percent at 21 Hong Kong dollars on Monday.

Chinese share prices top 6,000-point mark

    BEIJING, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese share prices hit a new record on Monday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closing above 6,000 points for the first time.

    The index ended on the first day of the 17th party congress at 6030.09 points, up 126.83 points, or 2.15 percent.  Full story