Hong Kong stocks jumped 542 points, or 2.6%, to 21,461 on Monday morning, rising for a fifth straight session and hitting a two-month high. The surge followed the Trump administration's pause on tariffs on Chinese electronics imports, boosting investor sentiment. The market also reacted positively to the latest data showing China's new yuan loans jumped to CNY3.64 trillion in March from CNY1,010 billion in February, well above expectations, driven by strong growth in household and corporate lending. However, the gains were tempered by comments from U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who said the tariff exemption was "not permanent." Some traders were also cautious ahead of China's March trade data, likely to be released later in the day. All sectors contributed to the gains, with technology, financials and consumer discretionary stocks leading the way. Among large-cap stocks, notable gainers included Lenovo Group (8.6%), Sunny Optical (6.2%), Zhejiang Leapmotor (4.9%), SMIIC (3.0%), and Pop Mart Intl. (2.8%).(Newsmaker23)

Source: Trading Economics