HKEx denies hacking attack

Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd, the second-largest bourse operator by market value, said errors at a printer, not hackers, were behind the erroneous filing of three documents under the wrong companies' tickers on Sunday.

Lijun International Pharmaceutical Holding Ltd and Natural Dairy N.Z. Holdings Ltd remained suspended on Tuesday after the error, which saw Lijun's first-half financial data wrongly released and documents relating to a takeover of G-Prop Holdings Ltd published under Natural Dairy's ticker. A printing firm hired by the companies uploaded the wrong information by mistake, the bourse's head of corporate communications Henry Law said, denying a report in the South China Morning Post newspaper that hackers were suspected.

HK people short of retirement savings

Fifty-five percent of Hong Kong residents believe they have insufficient expected retirement reserves to pay for their desired living expenditure after they retire, according to a survey.

The remaining 45 percent of respondents would have sufficient expected retirement reserves to cover their desired living expenditure after retirement, a slight improvement from 39 percent recorded in the last quarter, shows the survey, conducted by independent market research company Cimigo and commissioned by AIA Pension and Trustee.

The survey data and responses are weighted with respondents from working population aged between 18 and 65 with at least one MPF account in the city.

Swire falls most since Jan debut

Swire Properties Ltd fell the most since trading began in January as the shareholder after which the company is named said it is selling a HK$5.04 billion ($650 million) stake in the Hong Kong commercial landlord.

Swire Properties fell 4.2 percent to close at HK$21.85 after slumping as much as 8.4 percent in intraday trading. John Swire & Sons Ltd will sell 234 million shares of Swire Properties at HK$21.53 apiece, according to a statement to Hong Kong's stock exchange on Monday.

Chalco may drop takeover bid offer

Aluminum Corp of China Ltd may drop its C$925 million ($932 million) offer for control of SouthGobi Resources Ltd because of concern Mongolia will block the deal, the target coal producer said.

"There is no clear way forward" for the proposal by Aluminum Corp, also known as Chalco, because of uncertainty over Mongolia's Foreign Investment Law, SouthGobi Chief Executive Officer Alex Molyneux said on Tuesday in a conference call, according to a transcript. The company hasn't had "any meaningful contact from Chalco for over a month," he said.

The deal has faced political obstacles as Mongolia's government passed a law in May restricting foreign state-owned companies from controlling key assets, including resources, finance, media and communications industries.

HK stocks rise ahead of US data

Hong Kong stocks rose, with the benchmark index closing at its highest in three months, before the release of US retail sales data expected to signal demand is recovering in the world's largest economy.

Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings Ltd, a maker of shoes for Nike Inc that counts the US as its biggest market, added 1.1 percent. Air China Ltd gained 3.8 percent, leading Chinese carriers higher, after they reported higher revenue per passenger in July.

Futures on the Hang Seng Index added 1.1 percent to 20253. The HSI Volatility Index slipped 2.4 percent to 18.25, indicating traders expect a swing of about 5.2 percent in the benchmark index during the next 30 days.

China Daily - Agencies

(HK Edition 08/15/2012 page2)