HONG KONG (XFN-ASIA) - Share prices closed little changed as a recovery in China Mobile helped the market recoup early losses driven by Wall Street, dealers said.

Turnover was 47.48 bln hkd. 'The market lacked momentum to rise further as investors took a cautious approach ahead of futures settlement,' said Peter Lai, sales director at DBS Vickers.

Sustained gains on China's A-share markets failed to boost local shares as investors expect the Chinese government to announce more macro-economic controls to rein in its economy, Lai said.

'Some investors expect the Chinese government to announce measures during the golden week holiday during the first week of May... so they would rather remain sidelined,' he said.

The mainland telecoms giant closed up 0.55 hkd or 0.76 pct at 73.35, recovering from a low of 71.50 in early trade and after slumping 2.8 pct yesterday.

Among other large-caps, HSBC was down 0.50 hkd or 0.34 pct at 144.5, Hutchison Whampoa was up 0.40 hkd or 0.53 pct at 76.3, Swire Pacific down 0.85 hkd or 0.93 pct at 90.8 and China Construction Bank down 0.02 hkd or 0.41 pct at 4.89.

Sun Hung Kai Properties was up 0.35 hkd or 0.38 pct at 92.35, Cheung Kong up 1.0 hkd or 0.98 pct at 102.70, New World Development up 0.32 hkd or 1.76 pct at 18.48 and Sino Land down 0.18 hkd or 1.07 pct at 16.7.

The government announced yesterday that it will sell a Tuen Mun site next month through a public auction after receiving a minimum guaranteed bid of 525 mln hkd from a developer.

Banks were lower, with Hang Seng Bank down 0.20 hkd or 0.18 pct at 111.60, Bank of East Asia down 0.25 hkd or 0.52 pct at 48.20 and BOC Hong Kong down 0.16 hkd or 0.82 pct at 19.34 hkd.

Emperor Capital Group Ltd, a securities brokerage services provider spun off by Emperor International Holdings, closed sharply higher compared to its IPO price on its trading debut.

Hunan Nonferrous was down 0.24 hkd or 4.9 pct at 4.66 after announcing that its earnings per share fell to 0.1449 yuan last year from 0.2015 in 2005.

Haier Electronics rose 0.26 hkd or 10.61 pct at 2.71 after news that it swung to a net profit of 262.35 mln hkd in 2006 from a loss of 363.75 mln a year earlier.

Among China financials, ICBC was down 0.01 hkd or 0.23 pct at 4.33, Bank of China fell 0.03 hkd or 0.76 pct to 3.94. Bank of Communications was down 0.04 hkd or 0.48 pct at 8.35 and China Merchants Bank down 0.30 hkd or 1.52 pct at 19.4.

China Life was up 0.25 hkd or 1.0 pct at 25.3 after announcing that its net profit for the first quarter stood at 8.89 bln yuan, or 0.31 yuan per share, under Chinese accounting standards.

Elsewhere, Chalco was up 0.11 hkd or 1.23 pct at 9.04, Guangzhou R& F lost 0.15 hkd or 0.74 pct to 20.10 and PetroChina was up 0.01 hkd or 0.11 pct at 9.02.

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