Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Property Index Reverses Earlier Loss

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Property Index, which contains seven of the city’s largest developers, reversed losses after Financial Secretary John Tsang said today measures to prevent the formation of asset bubbles were working.
Tsang made the statement in an address on the city’s budget, in which he also said Hong Kong’s economy has fully recovered from the global financial crisis.
“The budget speech didn’t include harsh measures to curb the property prices so the market welcomed it,” said Yoji Takeda, who helps manage $1.1 billion in Hong Kong at RBC Investment Management Asia) Ltd. “Markets were concerned there could be further measures to control the property prices, but nothing concrete came out. The increased land supply was expected already.”
The index, which earlier fell as much as 0.9 percent, climbed 0.5 percent to 28,205.84 at the midday-trading break.
Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd., the world’s largest developer by market value, advanced 1.1 percent to HK$123.10 after dropping as much as 1 percent before Tsang began presenting his annual budget speech to legislators. Sino Land Co., a Hong Kong developer controlled by billionaire Robert Ng, increased 2.6 percent to HK$14.14. New World Development Ltd., which gets more than half of its revenue from Hong Kong, increased 1.9 percent to HK$13.98.