HAVING slumped under the weight of a U.S. executive order, China’s three major telecommunications companies are on the rebound in Hong Kong.

China Mobile led the gains yesterday for the country’s wireless majors, rising as much as 8.8 percent.

Its shares, along with those of China Telecom and China Unicom Hong Kong declined last week as index firms said they would remove them from their gauges to comply with U.S. sanctions, and the New York Stock Exchange said it would delist them.

Mainland buying of Hong Kong stocks through trading links was poised for a record net HK$17.6 billion (US$2.3 billion) yesterday afternoon.

On Friday, the three stocks were among the most actively traded through the stock connect.

Mainland investors bought a net HK$11 billion in China Mobile shares, the most among all companies listed in the city, according to the latest available data from Hong Kong’s exchange. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., also among Friday’s biggest net buys, has seen its stock price jump 33 percent over the past four sessions.

“The net buying of China Mobile last week has been so strong and I have never seen it on a scale like this before,” said Castor Pang, head of research at Core Pacific-Yamaichi International Hong Kong.

Recent declines among some stocks identified by Washington as having military ties have made valuations attractive, said Kevin Chen, analyst at China Merchants Securities HK Co. (SD-Agencies)