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World Business Quick Take

■ Banking
Boss warns of bubble
A bank boss has warned that property prices in Hong Kong are rising too fast and could be heading for a bubble, a news report said yesterday. HSBC chairman David Eldon spoke out after a turnaround which has seen property prices in the territory rebound 20 percent since August. "Sentiment may be running ahead of fundamentals," the South China Morning Post quoted Eldon as saying. "If [speculators] pay far too much and if they are going to ride property prices up too quickly, I don't think it's a good thing for Hong Kong," he warned. Eldon's comments were supported by Liu Chong Hing Bank senior general manager Brian Cheung. "I really feel housing prices are rising too fast. The recent surge is unhealthy," Cheugn told the newspaper.

■ IPR Protection
China opens patent Web site
Chinese inventors have a new, electronic option for registering and advertising patents. Under foreign pressure to stamp out rampant piracy of patents and other intellectual property, the government launched the site in collaboration with state television. The site -- www.cipmun.net -- is in Chinese only. Launched Tuesday, it is crammed with information on patents, news and a patent search service. Sponsors include the State Intellectual Property Office, China Central Television and local television stations. Among the patented products listed on the site Wednesday: A bicycle with solid tires (no more hunting down a sidewalk repair stall for a bicycle pump). A voice-controlled cellphone advertised as "convenient for the elderly and disabled." A biodegradable plastic said to be "kind to the environment."

■ Privatization
Singapore to sell firms
Singapore's government will this year sell stakes in some state-controlled companies that aren't of strategic importance, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a televised interview. The government said two years ago it plans to sell companies that aren't strategic to Singapore in terms of being a critical resource or having the potential to expand beyond the city-state. It didn't specify which companies or say when those sales would be made. "The companies are no longer relevant to our mission," said Lee, 52, who has been named as a successor by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. Lee declined to name the companies, saying it may hurt his "bargaining position." Last month, Temasek Holdings Pte, the government's investment arm, reduced its stake in Singapore Telecommunications to as little as 61.5 percent, from more than 67 percent.

■ Electronics
Device sales down 29%
Sales of handheld devices in the Asia-Pacific outside of Japan fell 29 percent on year to 1.59 million units last year, hurt by weaker demand in China where consumers now prefer products like digital cameras, a report said yesterday. "The sheer size of China's market dragged down the entire region as locally produced low-end handhelds fell out of favor there," said Manny Lopez, IDC's regional senior research analyst for personal systems. "But the silver lining is that more sophisticated products are continuing to sell across the region. Devices that go beyond just basic organizer features, such as multimedia and Wi-Fi, are helping to stir interest in the market."

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