Mainland Markets Jump 5 Percent On Trade Talk News

Mainland's stock markets surged by more than 5 percent on Monday after US President Donald Trump said he would delay an increase in tariffs on Chinese goods following "substantial progress" in trade talks.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index climbed 5.6 percent, to 2,961, while the Shenzhen Composite Index rallied 5.4 percent, to 1,557.

Hong Kong ended up 0.5 percent, at 28,959.

Loose monetary conditions, supportive economic policies and the inflow of foreign funds contributed to the positive mood in the markets, said Zhang Qi, an analyst of Haitong Securities.

"Positive signals from China-US trade talks and the continuous rally in recent few days reinforced investors' optimistic sentiment," Zhang said.

However, he added that investors should be wary of accompanying risks, considering there are still uncertainties regarding internal and external factors.

Securities firms led the gains. Citic Securities closed the maximum allowed 10 percent higher at 24.67 yuan and Sinolink Securities also rose by the limit to close at 10.51 yuan.

China Life Insurance jumped by the maximum to 28.56 yuan and Ping An Insurance rallied 8.92 percent to 73.00 yuan.

Tech companies surged on the news that Huawei unveiled a 5G foldable smartphone on Sunday. Telecoms giant ZTE added 8.87 percent to 30.31 yuan and optical products manufacturer Lens Technology closed 7.01 percent higher at 9.01 yuan.

Tokyo ended 0.5 percent higher. Sydney put on 0.3 percent, while Seoul was 0.1 percent higher, Taipei added 0.7 percent and Jakarta rose 0.4 percent. There were also gains in Wellington, Bangkok, Mumbai and Singapore.

The news also fired currency markets with the yuan extending gains to a seven-month high, while other high-yielding, riskier units were also up against the US dollar. (AFP)