Hong Kong Stocks Start The Week With A Jump

Hong Kong stocks started the week with stiff gains on Monday, following a strong US jobs report, with buying also supported by optimism over the China-US trade talks.

The Hang Seng Index rallied 1.7 percent, to 27,547.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.6 percent, to 2,975 and the Shenzhen Composite Index rose 0.6 percent, to 1,646.

Seoul, Bangkok and Taipei each piling on more than 1 percent, while Sydney was 0.3 percent up and Singapore added 0.1 percent.

Mumbai edged up 0.3 percent and Wellington climbed 0.4 percent. There were also healthy gains in Manila. Tokyo was closed for a public holiday.

The upbeat mood in the region was enhanced by comments from Vice-Premier Liu He that indicated trade talks with Washington were on track.

"Everyone is kind of upbeat around the prospect of at least a partial China-US trade deal," Peter Dragicevich, a strategist at Suncorp Corporate Services, told Bloomberg TV.

"It's going to keep equities pretty supported."

The US jobs news on Friday helped push oil prices up more than three percent, though profit-taking saw both main contracts fall in Asian business.

But Oanda senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley sounded a note of caution, warning: "Friday's mega-rally [for oil] was built on a combination of not-as-bad-as-feared data and optimism on a trade deal that really, only keeps the lights on. It does not increase the brightness of the world economy." (AFP)