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Hong Kong shares end up 0.37%

Hong Kong stocks rose 0.37 percent Tuesday on hopes the European Central Bank will restart its bond-buying scheme soon, but Standard Chartered bank slumped on US claims it hid huge deals with Iranian lenders.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 73.83 points to end at 20,072.55 on turnover of HK$51.78 billion ($6.68 billion).

Standard Chartered, the most heavily traded Hong Kong stock on Tuesday, recovered partially from an intraday low of HK$149. It took a 14.9 percent beating to end at HK$160.10.

Esprit shares went in the opposite direction, rallying 28 percent to close at HK$12.76 as investors welcomed the fashion retailer’s announcement that it had appointed a new chief executive.

Chinese shares closed up 0.13 percent in cautious trade ahead of the release of key economic data on Thursday. The Shanghai Composite Index ended up 2.70 points at 2,157.62 on turnover of 61.9 billion yuan ($9.7 billion).

Beijing will release figures on inflation, industrial output, investment and other indicators for July, which will provide an indication to the government’s next moves on boosting the slowing economy.

“Investors are anticipating further monetary easing in the third quarter. But overall sentiment is still cautious. It’s difficult to see a sharp rebound,” Zhang Shiqing, an analyst at Industrial Securities, told AFP.

Metals stocks rose. Zijin Mining jumped 6.12 percent to 3.99 yuan, Jinrui Mining gained 4.66 percent to 13.70 yuan and aluminium giant Chalco climbed 1.32 percent to 6.13 yuan.