HSI Narrows Gains, Still Ends On Positive Note

Regional markets rallied on Monday after Beijing eased bank reserve requirements to prop up the economy and Wall Street logged another record high.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index started the week higher and rose as many as 396 points before giving back some of the gains to finish 170 points, or 0.6 percent higher, at 27,515.

Turnover was HK$154.6 billion.

The top blue-chip performer was Haidilao, which surged 8.8 percent. BYD Company soared 7.8 percent after HSBC hiked its target price.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing gained 2.6 percent, after Goldman Sachs upgraded its call on the bourse operator to "neutral" and raised its target price.

Meituan bounced 2.1 percent. Alibaba added one percent. But heavyweight Tencent bucked the trend to edge down 0.7 percent and Xiaomi trimmed 0.2 percent.

Stocks across the border jumped in heavy trading, as risk appetite returned after the People's Bank of China announced it was cutting reserve requirements for banks - a move that will release about a trillion yuan of liquidity into the market.

The Shanghai Composite Index was 0.7 percent firmer, while the blue-chip CSI300 index was up 1.25 percent. The Shenzhen Composite advanced two percent.

Around the region, Japan's Nikkei rallied 2.2 percent, despite a new Covid state of emergency coming into effect in Tokyo.

Seoul and Taiwan each gained about 0.9 percent. Australia inched up 0.8 percent. Singapore put on 0.5 percent.