Hong Kong Market gains 0.42%

Headline indices of the Hong Kong financial market advanced on Monday, 28 January 2019, as risk appetite buying underpinned after temporarily end of the longest government shutdown in the history of the United States and optimism prevailed that Britain can avoid a no-deal Brexit. Market gains were, however, capped amid another sign of weakness in the world's second largest economy after official data showed China's industrial profit dropped for the second straight month in December. In afternoon trade, the Hang Seng Index added 115.04 points or 0.42% to 27,684.23. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 61.24 points or 0.56% to 10,934.91.

Facing mounting pressure, U.S. President Donald Trump agreed on Friday to temporarily end a 35-day-old partial US government shutdown without getting the $5.7 billion he had demanded from Congress for a border wall.

Globally, all eyes will be on the monthly two-day US Federal Reserve meeting on monetary starting Tuesday and US-China trade talks in Washington mid-week and the release of a backlog of economic data held up by the 35-day government shutdown. While the Fed meeting is expected to end with no change to US interest rate policy, market experts will be scanning the commentary for cues about the state of the economy and the prospect of an end to the current tightening cycle.

Crude oil prices edged higher on Friday, with traders weighing reports about likely U.S. sanctions on Venezuela's crude exports against data showing an increase in U.S. crude stockpiles. Crude oil futures for March ended up $0.56 or 1.1% at $53.69 a barrel.

Earnings at China's industrial firms shrank for a second straight month in December on slowing prices and sluggish factory activity. Profits in December fell 1.9% from a year earlier to 680.8 billion yuan (US$100.9 billion), weighed down by weak factory-gate prices and soft demand. This is on top of a decline of 1.8% in November - the first contraction in profits in nearly three years. For the full year, profits rose 10.3% to 6.64 trillion yuan in 2018, easing from 2017's robust pace of 21%, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday. The 2018 profit gain mostly came from the oil and natural gas extraction industry, along with ferrous metal and chemical sectors, He Ping, an official at the statistics bureau, said in a statement along with the data release.

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