Hong Kong, Shanghai Stocks Regain Momentum

Hong Kong stocks ended with healthy gains on Monday morning, clawing back some of the sharp losses suffered at the end of last week.

The Hang Seng Index rose 0.7 percent, to 28,422 by the break.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.6 percent, to 3,015 while the Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 2.4 percent, to 1,643.

Tokyo went into the break 0.2 percent higher. Jakarta and Taipei were also slightly higher.

But Sydney, Seoul, Singapore and Wellington suffered fresh losses.

Traders are keeping a close eye on developments in the trade talks, with conflicting comments from both sides on the progress.

"The almost forgotten US-China trade talks have been subsumed in a cacophony of data noise but remain the only game in town and will set the macroeconomic tone for the rest of [the first half of] 2019," said Oanda senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley.

"Until then, traders and investors will have itchy trigger fingers across most asset classes." (AFP)

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