The announced removal of China Netcom from the list of Hang Seng Index constituent stocks took effect after market close on Monday.

The merger between China Unicom and China Netcom, recently approved by their shareholders, was an ongoing Chinese mainland telecommunications restructuring that was expected to create one of the three integrated services providers.

The listing of China Netcom will be withdrawn on Oct. 15, subject to the expected approval of the merger in due court hearing, with the number of Hang Seng Index constituents dropping accordingly from 43 to 42, the Hang Seng Index Company said.

The changes to the Hang Seng family of indices, which had previously been scheduled for Oct. 15, had been moved forward to " facilitate the rebalancing activities performed by market participants and smooth the impact to portfolios tracking" the indices.

China Netcom will also be removed from the Hang Seng China- Affiliated Corporations Index and the Hang Seng Composite Industry Index-Telecommunications constituents.

Among other changes, the stock will be replaced by HKC Holdings as a constituent of the Hang Seng Composite Index, the Hang Seng Mainland Composite Index, the Hang Seng Freefloat Composite Index and the Hang Seng Mainland Freefloat Index.

(Xinhua News Agency October 7, 2008)