Updates to market close
SHANGHAI, March 10 (Reuters) - China and Hong Kong stocks closed higher on Tuesday, both rebounding from multi-month lows, as investors grew optimistic after U.S. President Donald Trump signalled the Middle East conflict could "end soon".
** China's blue-chip CSI300 Index .CSI300 rose 1.3%, while the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC firmed 0.7%. Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI gained 2.2%.
** China's export growth quickened in the January-February period, customs data showed, keeping the world's second-largest economy on track to top its record $1.2 trillion trade surplus over the course of 2026.
** Risk sentiment rebounded across Asia after Trump predicted a quick end to the Middle East war, knocking off oil prices from recent highs.
** Energy shares lagged: onshore energy .CSIEN fell 4.3%, Hong Kong energy .HSCIE slipped 1.8% and the CSI Coal Index .CSI000820 dropped 3.3%.
** China on Monday raised regulated retail gasoline and diesel ceiling prices by the most since March 2022, tracking a surge in global oil after the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint.
** Tech majors listed in Hong Kong .HSTECH climbed 2.4%, with Tencent 0700.HK up 7.3%. Onshore artificial intelligence stocks .CSI930713 rose 2.1%.
** Analysts at Shenzhen Oriental Harbor Investment Management said they did not expect the Iran conflict to hit the global economy as hard as in 2022, when Russia's invasion of Ukraine and pandemic-era supply strains drove broad surges in commodities and traded goods, fuelling global inflation, Federal Reserve rate hikes and steep U.S. equity losses.
(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
((li.gu@tr.com))
