Hong Kong shares closed higher on Tuesday after the Asian financial hub scaled back social distancing measures put in place to curb the spread of the pandemic, and as economies elsewhere also showed signs of re-opening businesses.

The Hang Seng index closed up 1.1% at 23,868.66. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index rose 1%.

The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares added 1.8%, the IT sector rose 1.3%, the financial sector ended 0.6% higher and the property sector closed up 0.9%.

Mainland China's financial markets are closed until Wednesday for a public holiday. About 1.33 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded on Tuesday, the lowest in over a week, compared with 2.56 billion shares in the previous session.