Hong Kong stocks closed in the green on Friday as the Chinese banks rose following regulators urging the companies with share prices lower than book values to improve their efficiency and performance.
The Hang Seng Index rose by 0.77%, or 150.27 points, to close Monday's session at 19,576.61. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose by 1.10%, or 77.04 points, to close at 7,057.10.
Hong Kong's economy grew by 1.8% year over year in the third quarter, sharply cooling from the 3.2% expansion in the second quarter, a Friday report by the government stated.
Banks in China logged a foreign exchange settlement surplus of about $18.2 billion in October, according to data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange released Friday. Forex purchases by banks reached $216.4 billion during the month while sales were at $198.2 billion.
In corporate news, HK Asia Holdings (HKG:1723) expects a decrease in profit attributable to the owners by 91% for the six months ended Sept. 30, as compared to the profit in the corresponding period of the previous year, the shares of the company were 5% down on Monday's close.
China Coal Energy (HKG:1898) commercial coal production rose 2.3% to 11.3 million tons in October from 11.1 million tons in the year-ago period. The shares of the company closed over 4% higher on Monday.
China HK Power Smart Energy Group (HKG:0931) expects a loss attributable to owners between HK$50 million and HK$65 million for the six months ended Sept. 30, wider than HK$47 million logged for the same period last year. The shares of the company closed nearly 3% higher on Monday.
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