Hong Kong stocks closed sharply higher on Monday, mainly boosted by the price upsurge of major Chinese shares listed in the market.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 168.04 points, or 1.31 percent, to open at the day's lowest 13,001.55 and extended its gains as much as 617.51 points, or 4.81 percent, to the day's highest 13,451.02 before softening a tick to close at 13,447.42, up 613.91 points, or 4.78 percent.

Turnover jumped to 55.31 billion HK dollars (7.14 billion U.S. dollars) from Friday's 43.89 billion HK dollars (5.63 billion U.S. dollars).

Share prices rose across the board as among 42 constituents of the Hang Seng Index, only exporter Li & Fung under-performed the market by dipping 1.41 percent to 19.58 HK dollars.

Market heavyweight HSBC, which accounts for the largest weighting of the benchmark Hang Seng Index, reversed its course in its last-minute comeback by adding 0.6 percent to 41.7 HK dollars, far from the day's lowest 39.3 HK dollars. HSBC offering rights bounced from the day's lowest 10.8 HK dollars to close at 13.2 HK dollars during its trading debut, compared with its offering price of 28 HK dollars.

Another market heavyweight China Mobile, the market's largest stock by capitalization and the country's largest mobile phone operator, rallied 4.91 percent to 66.2 HK dollars.

Chinese shares listed in Hong Kong contributed to most of the market's gains as many share prices posted a double-digit rally on hope of more economic stimulus measures in near future.

Market analysts said Monday's upsurge was helped by the U.S. Treasury's plan to write the toxic assets off the balance sheet of its troubled banks with up to 1 trillion U.S. dollars.

Chinese banks and insurers were all sharply higher. ICBC, China's largest lender, jumped 6.34 percent to 3.52 HK dollars. Bank of China rose 2.64 percent to 2.33 HK dollars. China Construction Bank surged 6.97 percent to 4.45 HK dollars. Bank of Communications shot up 6.34 percent to 5.2 HK dollars. China Merchants Bank gained 4.1 percent to 13.2 HK dollars.

China Life, the country's largest insurer, advanced 5.12 percent to 25.65 HK dollars. Ping An, China's second largest insurance company behind China Life, soared 7.39 percent to 47.25 HK dollars.

Local banks in Hong Kong were all higher. BOC Hong Kong, a banknote issuer in Hong Kong, added 3.88 percent to 7.76 HK dollars. Standard Chartered Bank, another note-issuing bank, went up 3.08 percent to 102.2 HK dollars. Hang Seng Bank, a major local bank controlled by HSBC, rallied 3.81 percent to 79 HK dollars. Bank of East Asia advanced 5.78 percent to 14.64 HK dollars.

The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd., the market's sole operator, jumped 6.08 percent to 68.95 HK dollars. The market operator scraped the 10-minute closing auction session on Monday on criticism of its fragility to price manipulation.

Hong Kong's property companies all rose. Sung Hung Kai Property, the city's largest developer, increased 7.09 percent to 69.5 HK dollars. Cheung Kong, one of the largest property companies controlled by tycoon Li Ka-shing, soared 8.16 percent to 68.3 HK dollars. Henderson Land jumped 8.78 percent to 28.5 HK dollars. Sino Land rose 7.51 percent to 7.3 HK dollars. Hang Lung Property rallied 6.76 percent to 17.06 HK dollars. New World Development was up 6.91 percent to 8.05 HK dollars.

The China Enterprise Index, which reflects the performance of 42 major companies registered in the Chinese mainland, soared 463.95 points, or 6.19 percent, to close at 7,959.91.

China's energy companies were all sharply higher. PetroChina, the country's largest oil producer, jumped 7.53 percent to 6.43 HK dollars. Sinopec, the country's largest refiner, advanced 4.6 percent to 4.32 HK dollars. CNOOC, China's largest offshore oil producer, rose 6.77 percent to 8.04 HK dollars. (7.75 HK dollars =1 U.S. dollar)

Source: Xinhua