About a year ago, KGI Asia upgraded its recommendation on minivan and saloon maker Brilliance China Automotive from 'reduce' to 'neutral'. Brilliance had reported progress in a joint venture with BMW and a rebound in sales in the second quarter of last year.

In April this year, Brilliance said it expected earnings to rebound after losses on its saloon car start-up knocked 27.7 per cent off last year's net profit, to 650.84 million yuan (HK$613.21 million), down from 900.26 million yuan in 2001.

After a 40 per cent increase in the stock price on the year, investors sold off after Brilliance announced last month that April's sales of the Zhongua sedans were 20 per cent lower than March's. The counter closed at HK$1.95 on Friday.