Hong Kong stocks close at over 3-month high on trade deal hopes

Hong Kong stocks ended at their highest in more than three months on Monday, aided by increasing hopes for a Sino-U.S. trade deal.

** The Hang Seng index rose 1.7% to 27,547.30, its highest since Aug. 1, while the China Enterprises Index gained 1.8% to 10,813.47, its highest since July 30. ** The United States and China on Friday said they made progress in talks aimed at defusing a nearly 16-month-long trade war that has harmed the global economy, and U.S. officials said a deal could be signed this month.

** China's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump have been in touch all along through various means when asked when and where the two leaders might meet. ** Investors also cheered Beijing's latest effort to open up its financial markets.

** China's justice ministry on Friday published draft rules to allow foreign companies to list on the country's stock exchanges, with the intention of implementing the changes on Jan. 1. ** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 1.14%, while Japan's Nikkei index closed down 0.33%.

** The yuan was quoted at 7.028 per U.S. dollar at 0809 GMT, 0.13% firmer than the previous close of 7.0372. ** About 1.78 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded, roughly 126.6% of the market's 30-day moving average of 1.40 billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 1.42 billion.

** At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 28.49% over Hong Kong-listed H-shares.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)