HONG KONG: Hong Kong shares rose on Monday on hopes that China and the United States will eventually reach a deal to avert a trade war, even as Beijing repeated that it was impossible for negotiations to take place under current conditions.
The Hang Seng index rose 1.3 percent, to 30,229.58, while the China Enterprises Index gained 0.9 percent, to 12,073.00 points.
US President Donald Trump predicted on Sunday that China would take down its trade barriers, expressing optimism despite escalating trade tensions between the world's two largest economies that have roiled global markets in the past week.
"We think the 1st round macro impact of US trade actions on China is limited (if implemented)," UBS Securities wrote. "Our baseline scenario is still that China and US could eventually reach a deal after negotiations, but the risk of more trade frictions and longer negotiation period increases notably."
The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares rose 0.6 percent while the IT sector rose 1.24 percent, the financial sector was 0.98 percent higher and property sector rose 1.35 percent.
The top gainer on Hang Seng was Sunny Optical Technology Group Co Ltd up 5.8 percent, while the biggest loser was Want Want China Holdings Ltd which was down 0.32 percent.
In China, the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.3 percent at 3,138.29, while the blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.1 percent at 3,852.93.
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.61 percent while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 0.51 percent.
The yuan was quoted at 6.31 per US dollar at 08:17 GMT, 0.12 percent weaker than the previous close of 6.3027.
As of the previous trading session, the Hang Seng index was down 0.25 percent this year, while China's H-share index was up 2.2 percent. As of the previous close, the Hang Seng has declined 0.83 percent this month.
The top gainers among H-shares were CITIC Ltd up 3.87 percent, followed by Byd Co Ltd gaining 3.16 percent and Hengan International Group Company Ltd up by 3.06 percent.
The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were Anhui Conch Cement Co Ltd which was down 0.86 percent, Air China Ltd which fell 0.8 percent and China Vanke Co Ltd down by 0.6 percent.
About 1.90 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded, roughly 97.1 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 1.96 billion shares a day.
The volume traded in the previous trading session was 1.75 billion.
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