HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks rebounded on Monday, drawing inspiration from a firmer Wall Street and helped by rising capital inflows from the mainland. The benchmark Hang Seng index added 1.0 percent, to 23,348.24 points.
The Hong Kong China Enterprises Index, which tracks mainland companies listed in Hong Kong, clocked the biggest one-day rise in a month, bouncing 1.6 percent, to 9,840.26 points. Sentiment was helped by rising southbound inflows through the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, which used more than 17 percent of the daily quota on Monday, compared with an average of nearly 11 percent in January. Financial, telecommunication, and consumer goods sectors were among the best performers in the Hong Kong market.
Insurance firms rallied, with shares of China Life Insurance Co Ltd and Ping An Insurance Co of China Ltd jumping 7.5 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively. But resource and energy shares were little changed, as Beijing’s unexpected move to increase short-term interest rates last week hit the commodity market.
