HSI Up, Alibaba Plunges In Shortened Session

Hong Kong stocks closed with gains on Thursday on hopes a post-Brexit trade deal will be signed soon, but increases were tempered by a plunge in market heavyweight Alibaba after China launched an anti-monopoly probe into the e-commerce giant.

The Hang Seng Index added 0.16 percent, or 43 points, to 26,386 as investors broke up early for Christmas.

Turnover was HK$98 billion.

Alibaba Group plunged more than 8 percent after Chinese authorities said they had launched a probe into it for "suspected monopolistic practices".

The firm's share price sank 8.13 percent to HK$228.20.

Mainland shares finished lower.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.6 percent at close, while the blue-chip CSI300 index inched down 0.1 percent. And the Shenzhen Composite index shed 1.1 percent.

Shares elsewhere in the region finished higher thanks to optimism towards a Brexit trade deal.

The Nikkei in Tokyo was up half a percent. South Korea’s Kospi rallied 1.7 percent. Taiwan added 0.4 percent. Sydney gained 0.3 percent. (Additional reporting by AFP)

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