SHANGHAI: China stocks had a good start to the week, with major indexes closing higher on Monday as investors interpreted the new guidelines on the country’s capital market as a positive signal for the stock market. Hong Kong shares declined.

China’s securities regulator issued draft rules on Friday to strengthen the supervision of company listings, delistings and computer-driven programme trading, in a move to improve the stock market and protect investors’ interests.

UBS strategist Lei Meng believes that the updated policies would fundamentally guide the long-term healthy development of the capital market, improve the quality of listed companies and boost market confidence.

At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was up 1.26% at 3,057.38. The blue-chip CSI300 index was up 2.11%, with its financial sector sub-index higher by 1.86%, the consumer staples sector up 2.77%, the real estate index up 0.21% and the healthcare sub-index up 1.08%.

The smaller Shenzhen index ended down 0.29% and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 1.852%.

Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.79%, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed down 0.74%.

At 0747 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 7.2386 per US dollar, 0.02% weaker than the previous close of 7.2372. ** At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down 121.23 points or 0.72% at 16,600.46.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 0.39% to 5,856.44.

The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares rose 1.6%, while the IT sector dipped 1.23%, the financial sector ended 0.5% lower and the property sector dipped 0.89%.

The top gainer on the Hang Seng was Lenovo Group Ltd , which gained 2.64%, while the biggest loser was Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd, which fell 7.92%.