HONG KONG, July 16 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares are seen gaining on Thursday as investors cheer signs of a turnaround in key economies including upbeat earnings at U.S. companies and strong economic data from China.
China's economy grew 7.9 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, the Beijing Times newspaper said on Thursday, citing an unnamed official. The economy grew 7.1 percent on the year in the first half, the newspaper said.
Beijing will release the data at 0200 GMT on Thursday.
In other positive indicators, China's power output in the first 10 days of July rose 3 percent from a year earlier to an average of 10.998 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) per day, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Thursday, citing data from a unit of the State Grid.
The volume was the highest this year and indicated recovering demand due to a continued rebound in economic activity.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index gained 2.1 percent on Wednesday, extending the previous session's best-in-a-month rally.
STOCKS TO WATCH- * German truckmaker MAN SE will pay 560 million euros ($786.7 million) for a 25 percent plus one share stake in Chinese peer Sinotruk, MAN said, booting its presence in Asia's top market.
The price it is paying marks a 21 percent premium to Hong Kong-listed Sinotruk's average share price over the past 60 days. MAN will buy ordinary shares and take part in a capital increase, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
* Chinese battery and electric car maker BYD Co said it planned to issue up to 100 million A shares on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange to raise capital for development projects.
The company on Thursday said the cash raised would be used to fund lithium-ion and solar battery production and the expansion of automobile products and accessories.
BYD said it would seek shareholder approval for the listing plan in a meeting to be held on September 11, but gave no further details.
* Sino Gold Mining on Thursday said it produced 53,367 ounces of gold for the quarter ended June, up 51 percent from the same period a year earlier, at a cash operating cost of $391 per ounce. For statement please click http://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/20090716/LTN20090716016.pdf
* Underground mall developer Renhe Commercial Holdings said it would buy six underground shopping centre sites in China's Dalian, Harbin and Weifang for a total of about 834 million yuan ($122.1 million), adding 226,422 square metres to the current projects portfolio.
For statement please click http://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/20090716/LTN20090716012.pdf.
* China Resources Enterprise said its unit would buy a remaining 20 percent stake it did not already own in CR Shenyang Brewery for 48 million yuan cash, a move to consolidate production facilities of the "Snow" brand beer producer in China. For statement please click http://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/20090715/LTN20090715174.pdf ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2306 GMT ------------
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