The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.56 percent, or 16.71 points, to 2,984.39 and the Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, added 1.56 percent, or 25.86 points, to 1,686.41.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam in Beijing on Monday, saying the Asian financial hub was not yet out of the “dilemma” facing the city’s economy after months of sometimes violent protests. In the latest sign of economic damage from the protests, Hong Kong International Airport reported its biggest fall in passenger numbers in more than a decade in November.
“The Hang Seng Index has risen by more than 1,200 points over the last three trading sessions last week. Hence after such substantial gains, it’s also natural for the index to come under some profit-taking pressure, ” said Linus Yip, chief strategist at First Shanghai Securities.The weekend’s vandalism and arson in a few districts in Hong Kong continued to worry traders about when the city’s economic contraction from the half-year long anti-government protests will bottom out.
Dragging down local developers was news flow from Sun Hung Kai properties, whose revenue at its hotels division had plummeted by up to half in November and December, as the city’s tourism industry struggled to stay afloat amid seven months of anti-government protests and the US-China trade war. - Bloomberg