Hong Kong stocks jumped on Tuesday, with investors snapping up China plays a day after Beijing announced a pilot programme to allow its citizens for the first time to invest directly in Hong Kong securities.



Shares in Chinese companies were up 5.36 percent by the midday break, with the China Enterprises Index of Hong Kong-listed mainland companies gaining 641.81 points to end the morning at 12,605.58.



The benchmark Hang Seng Index had risen 2.78 percent, or 601 points, to 22,196.63 by the break.



Mainboard turnover was HK$69.41 billion (US$8.9 billion), compared with Monday morning's HK$52.9 billion.



"Thanks to the new pilot scheme, which provided the market momentum for a strong rally this morning. But the recent rally was seen as too much and the stocks were seen as overbought," said Andrew To, a sales director at Tai Fook Securities.



"Investors may take the chance to unwind their (long) positions with players taking a wait-and-see attitude for further hints on direction," To added.



The blue chip index has rebounded more than 3,200 points from a low of 19,386.72 on Friday to a high of 22,616.85 on Tuesday morning. The H-shares index has also rebounded more than 2,600 points during that period.



Investors piled into large-cap Hong Kong-listed mainland companies on expectation that mainland investors would buy them because they trade at substantial discounts to their yuan-denominated, A-share counterparts in Shanghai. Benchmark stocks led the rally, with China Life climbing about 6 percent to HK$32. Rival Ping An Insurance jumped 7.8 percent to HK$68.3, while Bank of China rose 6.4 percent, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China gained 4.07 percent, and China Construction Bank climbed 4.4 percent.



Resource stocks were also active. Aluminum Corp of China Ltd, the world's fourth-largest alumina producer, surged 10.3 percent to HK$13.70, helped by better-than-expected first-half earnings it reported late on Monday..



China Unicom Ltd. gained 2.8 percent to HK$12.50 after it said it would issue 899.75 million new shares to SK Telecom as the South Korea's top mobile operator exercised its rights to convert US$1 billion bonds into shares of the Chinese mobile operator.



Meanwhile, instant noodle maker Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holdings Corp leapt 4 percent to HK$8.80 after saying on Monday its first-half net profit rose 44 percent to US$95.82 million.

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