HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks bounced between small gains and losses Tuesday morning, with the Hang Seng Index HSI, +0.42% up 0.1% about 40 minutes into the session following a modest loss the previous day. However, mainland Chinese issues did much better, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng China Enterprises Index HSCEI, +1.87% and the Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, +2.72% up 1.6%. Online giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. 0700, +0.31% TCEHY, -0.69% advanced 0.6% as a Bloomberg report said it and several other companies are bidding for Nokia’s NOK1V, +0.58% NOK, +0.87% maps business, competing with another group comprised of Uber Technologies Inc., Baidu Technologies Inc. BIDU, -0.86% and Apax Partners. More broadly, tech stocks extended their upward march, as software developer Kingdee International Software Group 0268, +4.78% KGDEF, +11.27% rose 4.4%, adding to its previous surge of more than 10%, after Chinese e-commerce group JD.com Inc. JD, +1.53% reached an agreement on Monday to buy a 10% stake in the company for about $171 million. Kingsoft Corp. 3888, +3.03% KSFTF, +1.91% the larger rival of Kingdee, also rallied 3.6% ahead of its quarterly earnings results due later in the day. Other gainers in the sector included online-game developer NetDragon Websoft Inc. 0777, +4.88% NDWTF (up 3.7%), Forgame Holdings Ltd. 0484, +1.89% (up 1.1%), and online-transaction service provider China Binary Sale Technology Ltd. 8255, +0.53% (up 1.1%). Video and telecom-service company V1 Group Ltd. HK;82 soared almost 13% after its U.S.-listed subsidiary said it had received a buyout offer from a unit of Orient Securities Co. 600958, +10.01% HK8001 for about $673 million. Electric-car and battery maker BYD Co. 1211, +2.39% BYDDF, -0.92% 002594, +4.08% climbed 3.2% as U.S. company Invenergy LLC said it would use BYD’s energy-storage system in its newly launched Grand Ridge Energy Storage project in Illinois. On the downside, Esprit Holdings Ltd. 0330, -3.43% ESHDF, -3.57% fell 3.7% after issuing a profit warning, while home-appliance company Gome Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd. 0493, +0.00% GMELY, -3.58% declined 1.8% after a Xinhua report confirmed that the company’s founder and former chairman was still in prison serving his 14-year sentence for insider trading and other crimes. Rumors he had been freed had prompted a rally in Gome shares the previous week.
