Hong Kong stocks rise on positive talks between Trump and Xi
Tech blue chips JD.com, Alibaba and Baidu lead gainers, as investors breathe a sigh of relief on potential thawing of US-China relations
Hong Kong stocks jumped on optimism over US-China relations, following a positive phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US president-elect Donald Trump.
The Hang Seng Index closed 1.8 per cent higher at 19,925.81 on Monday, after rising as much as 2.6 per cent in intraday trading. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index climbed 0.5 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose marginally.
Tech stocks surged, with the Hang Seng Tech Index gaining 2.6 per cent. Leading the pack was e-commerce giant JD.com, which surged 7.3 per cent to HK$157.40, while peer Alibaba Group Holding rose 4.7 per cent to HK$84.55 and tech giant Baidu advanced 2.7 per cent to HK$80.80.
Other big gainers included pharmaceutical company WuXi AppTec, which surged 7.2 per cent to HK$55.65, while food delivery company Meituan gained 5.2 per cent to HK$155.50. Anta Sports added 3.8 per cent to HK$81.05 and electric vehicle maker BYD advanced 4.3 per cent to HK$275.00.
Xi and Trump exchanged views on major issues during their phone call on Friday, including the crisis in Ukraine, the Israel-Palestine conflict as well as the US supreme court ban on TikTok. TikTok was back online in the US on Sunday after Trump said that he planned to temporarily block a nationwide ban on the short-video app after it went dark to comply with a federal law meant to force it to sever ties with Chinese parent ByteDance.
