Hong Kong stocks rose 0.43 percent on Monday, led by heavyweights such as China Mobile and HSBC, while gains in PICC Property & Casualty boosted Chinese enterprise stocks.
Hong Kong's blue chip Hang Seng Index rose 68.67 points to 15,963.77, but trade was thin because of a public holiday in the United States on Monday and ahead of a trading debut by Bank of China on Thursday.
"Whether or not the market can sustain its upward momentum depends on BOC's performance," said Alex Tang, research director at Core Pacific-Yamaichi International (HK) Ltd.
Turnover was at HK$22.1 billion (US $2.8 billion), compared to HK$28.7 billion on Friday. Bank of China, the country's second-biggest lender raised US $9.7 billion in the world's sixth-largest IPO last week.
Chinese enterprise stocks, also known as H-shares, rose 1.31 percent to 6,715.52, with PICC Property & Casualty gaining 6.12 percent after Merrill Lynch on Monday lifted its rating on China's top non-life insurer to "neutral" from "sell", citing as a positive factor the company's business restructure.
Adding to gains on the main index, China Mobile climbed 1.1 percent, while global lender HSBC was the most actively traded stock, up 0.52 percent, amid a rise on Wall Street on Friday.
Shares in Star Cruises Ltd fell 17.86 percent to HK$1.38, a level last seen in April 2003, after it and Genting International Plc lost a joint bid to build and run Singapore's first casino.
The Singapore government late on Friday picked Las Vegas Sands, the world's largest casino operator, for the casino project estimated to cost more than $3 billion.
Chinese department store operator Parkson Retail Group Ltd fell 2.25 percent to HK$23.90 after it said on Monday it would spend 525.1 million yuan (US $65.45 million) to buy out the state partners that hold 44 percent of its Beijing store.
Shares of Parkson Retail gained 2.1 percent last week to end at HK$24.45 on Friday.
PetroChina Co Ltd, Asia's top oil firm, rose 1.19 percent to HK$8.50 after it said it planned to spend around 4 billion yuan building underground storage facilities for natural gas, the official China Daily reported on Saturday.
PetroChina's stock, the fourth most actively-traded, has risen 32 percent so far this year to close at HK$8.40 on Friday.
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