People walk past an electronic stock price indicator board in Hong Kong, south China, on Sept. 19, 2008. Hong Kong stocks rallied 9.61 percent Friday, its biggest gain in eight months, following Wall Street's overnight rally and Chinese mainland's over 9 percent rebound Friday on news of latest market-boosting measures. (Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai) Photo Gallery>>>

   　HONG KONG, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong stocks rallied 9.61 percent Friday, its biggest gain in eight months, but analysts and traders said it was too early to say whether the local equities market has fully recovered.

    Hong Kong's benchmark Index on Friday almost recouped all the losses in former three sessions this week, following Wall Street's overnight rally and Chinese mainland's rebound Friday on news of latest market-boosting measures.

    But analysts said the index will likely remain in a wide 16,000-20,000 range in the near term as uncertainties surrounding global economic growth and the health of major financial institutions continue to loom.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 410.03 points or 3.86 percent overnight, boasted on news that worldwide leading central banks injecting multi-billion U.S. dollars capital to ease liquidity in strained markets.

A woman walks past an electronic stock price indicator board in Hong Kong, south China, on Sept. 19, 2008. Hong Kong stocks rallied 9.61 percent Friday, its biggest gain in eight months, following Wall Street's overnight rally and Chinese mainland's over 9 percent rebound Friday on news of latest market-boosting measures. (Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai)  Photo Gallery>>>

    The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed up nearly 9.46 percent, the biggest one-day percentage gain in seven years, on news that Chinese mainland government launches a series of major rescue market-boosting efforts.

    The central government on Thursday announced to cancel the share trading stamp tax on stock purchase, effective on Friday, while the stamp tax on share selling remained unchanged at 0.1 percent.

    Central Huijin Investment said it began buying ICBC, China Construction Bank and Bank of China Thursday, sending the three banks' share prices steeply up in Hong Kong market which led Friday's blue-chip gains.

    Analysts said Bank of China's rally was also helped by its purchase of a 20 percent stake in France's Compagnie Financiere Edmond de Rothschild.

    However, the strong gains in regional stock markets failed to allay concerns that the turmoil in the global financial markets will continue to exert downward pressure on local shares, analysts said.

    "Investors should be taking today's opportunity to trim some holdings rather than chasing into a rally," said Ben Kwong, chief operating officer at KGI Asia, as the bear market isn't over.

    Peter Lai, a director at DBS Vickers Securities, said there hasn't been enough change in the market and companies' fundamentals to warrant optimism on their outlook.

    "Trading remains driven by news and sentiment, so I would expect index to continue to swing wildly in the near term," he said.

China stocks end three-day plunge, surge 9.46% on stamp tax cut

    BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares prices had a rare single-day sharp rebound of 9.46 percent on Friday, after the government decided to scrap the stamp tax on stock purchase a day earlier among other announcements to boost the market.

    The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index finished the day at 2,075.09 points, up 9.46 percent or 179.25 points from the previous close. Full story

China cancels stamp tax on stock purchase to support equities market

    BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- China decided on Thursday to scrap the stamp tax on stock purchase, effective on Friday, in a move to boost the equities market after domestic stocks fell for third consecutive day since Tuesday.

    With the authorization of the State Council, China's Cabinet, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation said they decided to cancel the share trading stamp tax on stock purchase while the stamp tax on share selling remained unchanged at 0.1 percent. Full story

China supports strategic SOEs to buy more stocks of listed subsidiaries 


    BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- China is to back up its 147 centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in buying more stocks of their listed subsidiaries, the top state assets regulator said here Thursday.

    Li Rongrong, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) director, said the regulatory body had long held SOEs, particularly the 147 which report to the central government, should be an active force in facilitating a stable development of the stock market. Full story

State investment arm to shore up three Chinese lenders' shares with stock-buying plan

    BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Central Huijin Investment Co.,Ltd., an investment arm of the Chinese government, said Thursday it would buy the shares of three major Chinese lenders on the secondary market to shore up their share prices amid stock market slumps.

    The company said it would buy the shares of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China and the China Construction Bank and operations had started on Thursday. Full story