Hong Kong shares may come off 17-mth highs, markets wary ahead of Fed

by **Cals** Tue 17 Sep 2013, 10:32

Hong Kong shares may come off 17-mth highs, markets wary ahead of Fed
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Reuters
Tuesday, 17 September 2013 09:51

HONG KONG (Sept 17): Hong Kong shares may open lower on Tuesday, pulling back from a 17-month high as investors await the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting where it is widely expected to start paring its aggressive stimulus.

Tenwow International is making its trading debut, while Prada is expected to report later in the day a 12 percent rise in profit for the six months ended July, largely due to an almost 12 percent growth in sales in the world's second largest economy.

On Monday, the Hang Seng Index ended up 1.5 percent at 23,252.4 points, its highest since May 22. The China Enterprises Index of the top Chinese listings in Hong Kong rose 1.6 percent.

Elsewhere in Asia at 0105 GMT, Japan's Nikkei was up 0.2 percent, while South Korea's KOSPI was down 0.9 percent.

FACTORS TO WATCH:

* Tencent Holdings Ltd said on Monday that it will buy a 36.5 percent stake in Sohu.com Inc's Sogou search engine, China's third-largest, to lift its presence in the fast-growing China market for search and Internet services.

* Vringo Inc files additional lawsuit against ZTE in Germany, saying the filings allege infringement of the German part of European patent.

* Top China refiner Sinopec Corp has received quota from the government to export more than 1 million tonnes of diesel in the fourth quarter of the year, industry sources said on Monday.

* Wing Hang Bank Ltd's controlling shareholders have received preliminary offers from independent third parties to purchase their shares in the bank, which has a market value of $3.3 billion, the Hong Kong-based lender said.

* CNOOC Ltd said Toronto Stock Exchange had approved its application to list its American depositary receipts (ADRs) there. Scheduled to commence trading on Toronto Stock Exchange on September 18, this move does not involve issuing new shares and will not generate funds for the company.

* Shunfeng Photovoltaic International Ltd said it would sell 400 million new shares to third party investors at up to HK$2.80 per share, raising about HK$1 billion to fund the development and CONSTRUCTION [] of the solar power stations. - Reuters