Hong Kong: Market surges 1.46%

Headline indices of the Hong Kong share market closed higher on Tuesday, 12 March 2019, as risk appetite buying underpinned on following the positive cues from Wall Street overnight after an unexpected uptick in U.S. retail sales in January. Sentiment was also bolstered after British Prime Minister Theresa May won legally binding assurances from the European Union in an updated Brexit deal, just ahead of a vote in the British parliament. Sentiments boosted further on US-China trade optimism after reports suggested that Chinese Vice Premier Liu He held a telephone call with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on key issues in their trade talks. Turnover increased slightly to HK$109 billion from HK$102.8 billion on Monday. At closing bell, the Hang Seng Index advanced 417.57 points or 1.46% to 28,920.87. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index added 189.23 points or 1.68% to 11,466.14.

Blue chips rose across the board. Tencent (00700) rose 1.8% to HK$361. HSBC (00005) nudged up 0.6% to HK$64.85. HKEX (00388) added 3.1% to HK$277.4 after the bourse said it plans to launch A-share index futures. AIA (01299) put on 1.8% to HK$78.15. China Mengniu Dairy (02319) bucked the uptrend, falling 1% to HK$24.7, turning the worst blue-chip loser.

China telecom carriers were higher after the central government laid out its future IT development plans. China Tower (00788) was unchanged at HK$1.86. China Mobile (00941) gained 2% to HK$84.6. China Telecom (00728) rose 1.2% to HK$4.23. China Unicom (00762) jumped 3.7% to HK$9.71.

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