By V. Phani Kumar
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Hong Kong shares jumped higher early Wednesday, with banks and property developers pacing the the advance in the wake of solid overnight gains on Wall Street and as concerns over Egyptian unrest eased. Trading volumes were relatively light ahead of a long holiday-weekend; the stock market is open only for a half-day Wednesday and closed the rest of week for the Lunar New Year. The benchmark Hang Seng Index (HK:HANGSENG 23,909, +426.01, +1.81%) climbed 1.5% to 23,833.59, and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index advanced 1.5% to 12,720.60. Heavyweight HSBC Holdings PLC (HK:5 87.05, +1.75, +2.05%) (HBC 55.59, +0.95, +1.74%) led banks higher, rising 1.5%, while China Resources Land Ltd. (HK:1109 14.28, +0.36, +2.59%) (CRBJY 0.00, 0.00, 0.00%) added 3.2% and Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd. (HK:1 134.60, +7.20, +5.65%) (CHEUY 16.42, -0.14, -0.85%) gained 3.1%. Macau casino operators also joined the rally on news gambling revenues climbed 33% in January, with SJM Holdings Ltd. (HK:880 13.34, +0.76, +6.04%) (SJMHF 1.66, -0.01, -0.60%) climbing 2.1% and Melco International Development Ltd. (HK:200 5.87, +0.23, +4.08%) (MDEVF 0.77, +0.04, +4.99%) rising 2%. Mainland Chinese stock markets were among those closed for Chinese New Year holidays Wednesday.
