Tech, Financials Send Local Stocks Higher

Local shares headed north while their peers in the region were mixed on Monday as a sudden dive in gold and oil prices hurt market sentiment.

The Hang Seng Index opened 210 points lower but soon reversed course thanks to a recovery by Tencent and Meituan, as well as support by heavyweight financials.

But after rising more than 300 points, the benchmark gave back some of the gains to finish the day up 104 points, or 0.4 percent, at 26,283.

Market turnover was HK$147.5 billion.

Meituan rallied 3.1 percent on expectations that an antitrust investigation into the food delivery platform could end soon following reports that mainland regulators could slap a fine of US$1 billion on the company. Tencent rallied 1.8 percent. Xiaomi jumped 1.7 percent.

But Alibaba slumped 2.5 percent as the e-commerce giant battled the fallout from a sexual assault scandal.

HSBC and AIA each added more than 1 percent.

Mainland property firms also outperformed. Country Garden and China Resources Land jumped more than 4 percent each. China Overseas Land and Investment advanced 3.5 percent.

Sports-related stocks gave up some of the gains they'd enjoyed in previous sessions. Anta Sports retreated 2.9 percent and Shenzhen International shed 2.4 percent.

SMIC sank 5 percent after state media warned against speculation over a global chip shortage.

Shares across the border finished higher as investors hoped for policy support after new figures showed that factory gate prices rose faster than expected. The Shanghai Composite Index put on 1 percent, the blue-chip CSI300 index added 1.3 percent and the Shenzhen Composite edged up 0.8 percent.

Taiwan shares were down 0.2 percent.

Elsewhere, the Nikkei in Japan edged up 0.3 percent, South Korea's Kospi eased 0.3 percent, Singapore gained less than 0.1 percent and Australia was flat.

In commodities, gold recovered some of its losses after dropping more than 4 percent earlier, as robust US jobs data released on Friday renewed worries that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates sooner than expected.

And world oil prices continued to tumble on concerns that the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant would hurt demand outlook.

Meanwhile, the US dollar strengthened on expectations of earlier Fed tapering.