HK Net Stocks Surge, 30 Percent Market Turnover

Despite closing down due to profit taking, four Hong Kong Internet-related companies have accounted for nearly 30 percent of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s turnover in the last two days.

Pacific Century CyberWorks, China Online, Great Wall Technology and New World CyberBase were among the top five performers in yesterday’s session, the South China Morning Post reported.

Market analysts say the CyberWorks, with its plan to launch an Asia-wide satellite and cable broadband Internet service, is leading the charge from Hong Kong’s Internet sector.

CyberWorks, which is owned jointly by Pacific Century and Intel, reached a turnover of HK$953 million (US$122.7 million) and an market capitalization of HK$35.45 billion (US$4.57 billion) at the close of yesterday’s market.

China Online, an avowed content provider formerly know as Star Telecom, also performed well attaining a turnover of HK$765 million (US$98.5 million). Analyst credit this to CyberWorks stake in the company rather than any business plan.

The other two firms, Great Wall with a HK$277 million (US$35.7 million) turnover and NW CyberBase with a HK$357 million (US$46 million) turnover, rose on pure speculation of future possibilities in the Internet sector. Neither company currently has a significant Internet-based operation.

Hong Kong investors are attracted to any company that has plans to focus on the Internet industry. For example, Great Wall, CyberBase, formerly a construction company, and China Online only recently indicated that they would develop Internet assets.