Hong Kong share prices closed 1.27 percent higher Monday with the blue chip index sweeping past the 22,800 level to hit its 5th-straight record high.

The Hang Seng Index jumped 285.69 points close at 22,817.43 after trading between 22,601.65 and 22,818.32 during the session. Turnover reached 102.7 billion HK dollars, the second highest in history.

The market was boosted by a broad-based rally and strong performance in neighboring markets. China Life, the top market driver, tracked its Shanghai-listed shares to surge 6.3 percent to 30.55 HK dollars after mostly drifting last week despite record-breaking rallies.

Hong Kong Exchanges bolted 7.2 percent to 135.90 HK dollars to a fresh record, helped by the recent string of massive turnover.

The China Enterprises index of H shares, or Hong Kong-listed shares in mainland companies, leapt 2.7 percent to a record 13,024.43.

On Chinese telecom stocks side, China Mobile was up 0.64 percent, China Unicom up 1.96 percent, Netcom down 0.23 percent, and China Telecom up 2.29 percent.

Cheung Kong-Hutchison Whompoa Holdings that had reversed weakness recently continuously performed well. Cheung Kong was up 0.91 percent, and Hutchinson Whampoa sharply up 4.1 percent.

Bank stock HSBC was up 0.35 percent, Hang Seng Bank up 1.02 percent, Bank of East Asia steeply up 4.13 percent, BOC HK up 1.9 percent, and StanChart up 2.025 percent.

On resource stocks side, PetroChina lifted 1.97 percent, and Sinopec Corp climbed 0.45 percent; coal stocks continued mounting, China Shenhua up 1.8 percent, China Coal up 5.19 percent, breaking the top, and Yanzhou Coal up 4.16 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency July 9 2007)