Hong Kong stocks rose 84.39 points or 0.45 percent, to close at 18,981.84 points on Tuesday, thanks to gains of such heavyweights as HSBC, China Mobile and AIA.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded between 18,998.47 and 18,850.47 points. Turnover totaled 40.23 billion HK dollars (5.18 billion U.S. dollars).

The finance sub-index, which covers HSBC and other 11 blue chips, added 143.93 points to close at 26,002.72 points. Banking giant HSBC contributed 18 points to the gains of the Hang Seng Index.

Shares of HSBC went up 0.6 percent to 68.2 HK dollars. HSBC unit and one of Hong Kong's local bank Hang Seng Bank rose 0.8 percent to 103.8 HK dollars.

Hong Kong-based insurer AIA Group gained 1 percent to end at 25.75 HK dollars. The other two blue-chip insurers also rose significantly in the day.

China Life, one of the world's largest life insurers by market value, added 1.9 percent to 19.1 HK dollars. Ping An Insurance, China's second largest insurer, rose 2.1 percent to end at 59.95 HK dollars.

Mainland's banking heavyweights closed mixed in the day. Shares of the ICBC, the world's largest bank by market value, lost 0.5 percent to 4.21 HK dollars. China Construction Bank edged up 0.2 percent to 5.15 HK dollars per share. Bank of Communications rose 0.6 percent to 5 HK dollars.

Bank of China shed 0.35 percent to 2.86 HK dollars. BOC Hong Kong, an unit of Bank of China, gained 0.6 percent to end at 23.7 HK dollars.

Shares of China Mobile, the world's largest mobile operator by subscribers which accounts for the second largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, rose 0.85 percent to 82.85 HK dollars.

Footwear retailer Belle International rose nearly 5.1 percent to end at 12.42 HK dollars per share, which made it the best- performing blue chip in the day, after Goldman Sachs raised Belle' s price target. Hutchison Whampoa, the world's biggest container terminal operator, rose nearly 1.5 percent to close at 65.4 HK dollars per share.

Shares of China's biggest Internet company Tencent Holdings lost 1.27 percent to 218.6 HK dollars. Sands China, which owns and operates casinos and resorts in Macao, tumbled 5.8 percent to 22.7 HK dollars, making it the worst-performing blue chip in the day.

Mainland-based oil companies also end up mixed in the day.

CNOOC, the HK-listed unit of China's National Offshore Oil Corp., was up 0.56 percent to end at 14.36 HK dollars. PetroChina, the country's largest oil and gas producer, lost 0.7 percent to close at 9.99 HK dollars. Sinopec, China's top refiner, closed at 6.79 HK dollars, up 0.6 percent.

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