Economic optimism lifts HK stocks to 2-1/2-year high after Lunar New Year break

** The Hang Seng Tech Index surged 3.36% and the Hang Seng sub-index, tracking information technology firms, gains 0.27%. ** China's mainland markets will remain closed for the Lunar New Year celebrations and are scheduled to reopen on Feb. 18.

Hong Kong stocks rose on Tuesday, on track to mark a bull run on the first day of trading after the Lunar New Year holidays, with investors willing to take in more risk tracking a firmer overseas market on optimism over global economic recovery.

** The Hang Seng index rose 1.8% at 30,717.38 by mid-day, the highest since June 2018, while the China Enterprises Index climbed 1.69% to 12,081.86 points. ** The Hang Seng Tech Index surged 3.36% and the Hang Seng sub-index, tracking information technology firms, gains 0.27%.

** China's mainland markets will remain closed for the Lunar New Year celebrations and are scheduled to reopen on Feb. 18. ** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ticked up 0.45% while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.4% to a 30-year high.

** Chinese box offices set a revenue record of over 6 billion yuan ($929.6 million) for the week beginning Feb. 11, following a movie-going rush at the start of the holidays, sending IMAX China up as much as 90%, Alibaba Pictures and Maoyan up over 20% ** The Hong Kong Hang Seng sub-index, tracking property firms, gained 2.95% and the Hang Seng Finance Index climbed 2.05%.

** The top gainer in the Hang Seng Index was PetroChina , which was up 10.29%, while the biggest percentage loser was Meituan, which dropped 1.66%. ** The biggest gainer in Hang Seng Tech Index was ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance Co Ltd, which soared 25.05%, while the top percentage loser was NetEase Inc, down 3.54%