18-Nov-2010 11:53 AM

Shares in ‘big three’ Chinese carriers slump; Skywest and Shandong shares gain strongly

Chinese airline shares fell all over the board in Hong Kong yesterday as the US dollar strengthened, raising concerns a stronger dollar means more debt service for dollar-denominated liability, such as Boeing aircraft.

China Eastern Airlines shares tumbled 6.5% for the day while China Southern shares were 4.5% weaker. Air China slipped 3.6%. The reductions outpaced a 2.1% reduction in the Hang Seng Index which fell 2.1%. The Shanghai Composite Index declined by 2.0% yesterday. Both indices are off more than 4% for the week so far.

Kingfisher shares also slumped yesterday by 6.5% while on the other end of the spectrum, Australia’s Skywest Airlines (+6.9%) and China’s Shandong Airlines (+5.3%) witnessed large upward share price movements.

Asia Pacific selected airlines daily share price movements (% change): 17-Nov-2010