Hong Kong stocks close 0.84 pct higher

Hong Kong stocks gained 183.64 points, or 0.84 percent to close at 22,085.75 on Monday.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index opened 263 points lower and once fell to 21,546, the lowest point of the day. However, the index staged a forceful rally in the afternoon as the news that Dubai had received 10 billion U.S. dollars from Abu Dhabi to repay debt spread among investors.

Turnover totaled 70.06 billion HK dollars (about 9.04 billion U. S. dollars).

Heavyweight HSBC, also one of the major Dubai debtors, rose 1. 44 percent to 91.45 HK dollars, contributing 47 points to the index change. The blue chip also topped the daily turnover chart, followed by wind farm operator China Longyuan, which surged 7.78 percent to 9.84 HK dollars on a turnover of over 2.6 million HK dollars.

The third stock on the chart was the nation's leading oil producer Sinopec, which rallied 7.30 percent to 6.91 HK dollars after an upbeat report by Merril Lynch that the profit of the Chinese refiner will rise until the crude price hits 130 U.S. dollars per barrel.

By comparison, the performance of its main rival Petrol China was rather dim, rising only 0.52 percent to 9.67 HK dollars for lack of any good news.

The country's telecom giant China Mobile also brought the Hang Seng Index higher by rising 1.42 percent to 71.35 HK dollars.

Hong Kong-listed mainland financial stocks were mostly higher, with ICBC up 0.31 percent, CCB 0.15 percent and BOC 0.23 percent. The two insurers, China Life and Ping An gained 0.25 percent and 0. 5 percent respectively.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks so-called H shares of Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong, climbed 0.6 percent to 13,049.34.

For local property companies, moderate growth was registered, with Cheung Kong up 1.29 percent to 101.8 HK dollars, SHK up 0.76 percent to 119.2 HK dollars and Henderson Land up 0.95 percent to 58.35 HK dollars.

Source: Xinhua