China shares climb ahead of Trump-Xi summit; tech stocks inch up

HONG KONG: China and Hong Kong stocks rose on Monday, led by technology and property shares, as investors hoped that the US and China would extend a trade truce, with presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping due to meet this week.

At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.6% at 3,933.37 points. China’s blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.4%.

The start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 0.9% and Shanghai’s tech-focused STAR50 index was up 0.4%.

The CSI AI Index added 1.1%. Tech shares gained after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng concluded talks in New York on Sunday, with the US side proposing a new AI safety notification mechanism ahead of the Trump-Xi summit on September 24.

Market expectations for the meeting are tempered, but the main focus is whether the leaders will signal an extension to a trade truce struck last year.

“Overall, we think both sides will seek to maintain relative stability in US-China relations, although a broad bilateral agreement appears unlikely,” analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note. Among other gainers, the real estate sector surged 4.6% and the defence sector added 1.7%.

Healthcare rose more than 3% after a Reuters report that the US is working on rules for pharmaceutical companies investing in China that would likely preserve their ability to strike most licensing deals for Chinese drugs.

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index was up 0.6% at 24,891.58, and the Hang Seng Tech Index was little changed.

Share markets edged higher in Asia on Monday as chipmakers climbed, while oil eased on reports that more oil was finding its way out of the Middle East than previously thought, despite the ongoing conflict in the Gulf.