Debut downer for HK's bank offer

THE biggest stock offering of the year in

The shares, offered to institutions at HK$8.50, quickly fell to HK$8.20 as retail investors, frightened by the recent market mayhem, rushed to dump them.

Small investors could still pick up some modest profits, as they were offered BOC HK shares at $8.075, and had bought 35% of the US$2.5bn (£1.6bn) issue. Attempts by underwriters Goldman Sachs to stem the fall by picking up the stock being thrown at the market failed, despite the general rally in Hong Kong share prices.

Asian investors ventured cautiously back on to markets after the Dow Jones Industrial Average scored its second-largest rise on record overnight. The Dow's 6% surge raised hopes that US stocks are now bouncing along the bottom, and braver bargain-hunters set out on the trail of oversold counters in the region.

After the hammering that global markets have taken, there was none of the exuberance seen in the US, as concerns about the depth of the American economic recovery continued to cloud the outlook. It is going to take more than one big bounce to convince investors that the US shares slide is over, and that there are not more scandals awaiting to trap the unwary, said analysts.

The key indices in Japan and Hong Kong edged above 10,000 in early trading but failed to hold on to the best of the morning's gains.

Hong Kong export stocks, which had borne much of the brunt of recent selling, bounced back, and there was a mild recovery in other blue-chips with HSBC Holdingsup 0.75 cents to HK$85. The Hang Seng index ended down 87.2 at 9884.8.

An early rally to 10,166 by the Nikkei 225 Average was pared back in afternoon trade on further signs that the domestic economy is failing to revive according to plan. It dropped back to 9929.91, for a loss of 17.81. Retail sales in June fell 3.7% year on year, as consumers continued to worry about unemployment and salary cuts and the World Cup kept buyers out of the stores.

Technology stocks in South Korea and Taiwan responded to US gains but rises were trimmed as foreign investors took profits.

News that Korea's Fair Trade Commission was investigating six of the country's largest conglomerates for signs of price-fixing, also cut into the Kospi index's rally, although it held on to a 2.11 points rise to 723.52. The Weighted Average in Taiwan ran out of steam in late trading, and that restricted the increase to 5.59 points at 5,045.07.

Recently friendless computer-related stocks in Singapore were back in favour with bottom-fishers. But rises of up to 4% in suppliers of software and hardware systems could not save the Straits Times index from finishing at its lowest close this year - down 6.39 at 1516.41.

Sydney stocks began to crawl back after suffering their biggest losses in 10 months on Wednesday, as US-influenced counters pulled the All Ordinaries up 25.5 to 2990.60.

Thailand's SET tumbled 13.52 to 374.44. Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur Composite edged up 3.75 to 718.85 and the Composite index in Jakarta fell 6.87 to 453.15.

Prices and indices in this section are supplied from various sources and calculated at different times and may not always match those listed on the site.