CHINA Mobile Ltd, the world's largest wireless-phone carrier by users, had the biggest two-day gain in a month on the Hong Kong exchange yesterday after Lehman Brothers and CLSA Ltd raised their stock price estimates.
China Mobile shares climbed 2.5 percent to close at a record HK$121.10 (US$15.59). The stock rose 8.5 percent in the past two sessions, the most since August 21, according to Bloomberg News.
Chinese investors will probably buy China Mobile's stock because of the company's growth, once regulations allow them to purchase Hong Kong-listed shares, Lehman Brothers and CLSA analysts said yesterday. Beijing-based China Mobile gained 5.59 million users in August, almost four times the additions at domestic rival China Unicom Ltd.
"China Mobile has been rallying faster than expected mainly due to market factors like China's individual investment theme," Francis Cheung, an analyst at CLSA, wrote in a report. CLSA boosted its 12-month share-price target to HK$140 from HK$110, and kept a "buy" recommendation.
Fixed-line companies China Telecom Corp and China Netcom Group Corp (Hong Kong) Ltd, which are applying for licenses to offer faster mobile-phone services, lost users to China Mobile and China Unicom as the wireless operators cut rates.
China Mobile is expected to face "little impact from competition," Lehman's Paul Wuh wrote in a note. The government may delay industry restructuring and licenses for third-generation mobile services, Wuh said.
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