Hong Kong shares close morning slightly higher

Share prices closed the morning slightly higher in tandem with the rise on Wall Street overnight but the market lacked a clear direction in the run-up to the Sept 11 anniversary as well as uncertainty over whether the US would lead a strike against Iraq, dealers said.

Property stocks rebounded technically ahead of the land auction, they said, noting that the two sites up for sale are too small to give a meaningful indication about the state of the property market.