HUTCHISON TELECOM SHARES FALL OVER WEAK OUTLOOK

       Hutchison Telecommunicatins International's stock fell steeply this week on concern that earnings will decline after the company sold its stake in Israel's Partner Communications, its most profitable unit.
       The emerging-market phone carier, controlled by billionaire Li Kashing resumed trading after a one-day suspension on Thursday.
       Scailex Corp, an investment firm owned by Israeli entrepreneur Ilan Ben Dov, said it will buy 78.9 million Partner shares, or a 51.3 per cent stake, from Hutchison Telecom at US17 (Bt580) apiece.
       After stripping out the contributions from Partner, HTIL is expected to remain loss-making and cash-flow negative for the foreseeable future, Colin McCallum, a Bangkok-based analyst at Credit Suisse Group, wrote in a report.
       McCallum kept his "underperform" rating on Hutchison Telecom shares.
       Partner, Israel's second biggest wireless carrier, accounted for 58 per cent of Hutchison Telecom's sales of 23.7 billion Hong Kong dollars (Bt104 billion) last year, according to the parent's announcement in March.
       Hutchison Telecom will focus on operations in Indonesia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka after the sale of the stake in Partner. Hutchison Telecom will book a pre-tax gain of US$1 billion from the proposed sale, he said.
       Hutchison Telecom posted a first-half loss of HK$285 million, compared with a profit of HK$1.17 billion a year carlier, as it increased spending in Indonesia.
       The sale price in Israel was "reasonably good", Li told reporters at the results briefing of Hutchison Whampoa in Hong Kong on Thursday.
       Hutchison Whampoa, Hutchison Telecom's parent, reported first-half profit fel 33 per cent to KH$5.75 billion, beating the HK$4.8-billion many analyst were expecting.