Xiaomi Leads Local Shares To Positive Finish

Hong Kong and most regional stocks ended Tuesday higher following another record finish on Wall Street, as investors waited for clues on monetary policy in key central bank meetings this week, starting with the US Federal Reserve.

The Hang Seng Index opened higher and climbed more than 280 points during the morning session. But it saw its gains narrow to just 38 points at one stage before climbing back up.

The benchmark wrapped up the day 193 points or two-thirds of a percent higher at 29,027, on turnover of HK$154.6 billion.

Xiaomi reigned as the blue-chip winner for a second day, soaring 8 percent to HK$26.3, after index provider FTSE Russell proposed putting the mainland smartphone maker back into its products.

China Mobile rallied as much as 3.7 percent before giving back some of the gains to finish nearly 2 percent higher, following a report by Bloomberg that China's largest wireless carrier was considering an A-share listing after its removal from the New York Stock Exchange.

Biotech firms also fared well. Wuxi Biologics surged 5.5 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical gained 5 percent and Sino Biopharmaceutical gained 3.4 percent.

Alibaba was unchanged at HK$221.4 after Beijing reportedly pressured the e-commerce conglomerate to shed some of its media businesses.

Across the border, the Shanghai Composite Index put on 0.8 percent, while the blue-chip CSI300 index added 0.9 percent. The Shenzhen Composite advanced 1.1 percent.

The Nikkei in Japan edged up 0.5 percent. South Korea's Kospi was 0.7 percent firmer. Australia rose 0.8 percent. Taiwan edged up 0.4 percent. Singapore was little changed.