hong kong stocks rose to a fourmonth high in its first trading day since the christmas holidays during which china scrapped its overseastravel quarantine rule the benchmark hang seng index rose as much as 26 and was last up 23 at 2005023 paving the way for the indexs best closing since august the markets gains came after beijing officials said monday that they would no longer require inbound travelers to china to undergo quarantine from early january a wide range of sectors drove gains with consumer goods and services companies leading the pack restaurant operator haidilao international holding ltd jumped 69 and budweiser brewing co apac ltd added 53 tourism company tu yi holding co soared 18 while online travel agency tripcom group ltd gained 36 citi analysts characterized the chinese governments latest easing of covid curbs as a sign of accelerated border reopening this is likely to lead to upside risks to our covered stocks with chinese outbound exposure such as airport dutyfree travel agency hotel names in 2023 citi said in a note sectors that arent directly linked to consumption and travel also gained ground solarenergy equipment makers xinyi solar holdings ltd and flat glass group co both surged 67 after latest industry data suggested easing pressure in raw material costs power producers also advanced as recent weekly data showed recovering energy demand and chinas accelerated pace of reopening further buoyed optimism china power international development ltd jumped 21 and china resources power holdings co rose 15