Hong Kong: Shares close up on strong US data, China rally

[HONG KONG] Hong Kong shares rose on Monday, heartened by strong US employment data and as China shares continued to outperform on the back of a blistering rally in mainland markets.

The Shanghai Composite Index crossed 3,000 points for the first time since 2011 on Monday as weak trade data spurred expectations that Beijing will roll out further stimulus measures to shore up the cooling economy.

The Hang Seng index rose 0.2 per cent, to 24,047.67 points, while the China Enterprises Index gained 2.4 per cent, to 11,873.41 points.

Among the most actively traded stocks on Hong Kong's main board were CCT Land Holdings, down 5.6 per cent at HK$0.02, Bank Of China, up 4.6 per cent at HK$4.32 and CCB, up 3.9 per cent at HK$6.41.

Chinese investment flowing from Shanghai into Hong Kong through the mutual market access pilot programme took up 0.52 billion yuan of the 10.5 billion yuan daily quota.

Total trading volume of companies included in the HSI index was 3.8 billion shares.

Hong Kong shares of dual-listed Chinese firms continued to trade at sharp discounts to their onshore versions, with the A-H share premium index hovering near a two-and-a-half-year high.

REUTERS