Hong Kong shares rose slightly on Monday, led by index heavyweight Tencent. At close of trade, the Hang Seng index was up 64.04 points or 0.22 percent at 29,138.28. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index rose 0.6 percent to 11,518.07.
The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares rose 1.2 percent while the IT sector rose 0.83 percent, the financial sector was 0.21 percent higher and property sector dipped 0.52 percent. The top gainer on Hang Seng was WH Group Ltd up 3.58 percent, while the biggest loser was Hang Lung Properties Ltd which was down 2.35 percent.
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.36 percent while Japan's Nikkei index closed down 0.49 percent. So far this year, the Hang Seng index is up 32.15 percent, while China's H-share index is up 21.9 percent. The Hang Seng has declined 0.35 percent this month. The top gainers among H-shares were New China Life Insurance Co Ltd up 4.02 percent, followed by China Pacific Insurance Group Co Ltd gaining 3.38 percent and Air China Ltd up by 3.22 percent.
The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were Sinopharm Group Co which was down 1.44 percent, CGN Power Co Ltd which fell 0.9 percent and China Railway Construction Corp Ltd down by 0.9 percent. About 1.67 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded, roughly 85.4 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 1.96 billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 2.15 billion.