Chinese stocks edge higher after early period of hesitation

The Chinese stock market closed higher on Monday, after an early session of hesitation, said China Global Television Network (CGTN) market analyst Timothy Pope.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 1.16 percent to 4,073.90 points on the day.

The Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.19 percent higher at 15,812.87 points. The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, gained 0.54 percent to close at 4,216.70 points.

"Chinese mainland markets had a hesitant start to Monday trade actually, but they ended the session higher. The Shanghai Composite Index was up a respectable 1.2 percent, while the Shenzhen Component flirted with losses for most of the session but climbed 0.2 percent just before the close. The early hesitancy I think was mostly down to the bruising session that we had on Friday and investors just sort of feeling their way a bit, but then they rotated into the consumer and healthcare stocks," said Pope.

The STAR Composite Index, which reflects the performance of stocks on China's sci-tech innovation board, closed 3.12 percent higher at 2,416.67 points.

"The tech rally looks far from over though because while some chip companies had a pretty choppy morning, we did see strong afternoon performances. Gigadevice Semiconductor ended up being the biggest contributor to gains on the Shanghai Composite today. It added about 9 percent, while another cloud computing and AI chip company, Montage Technology, rose by 13 percent. By the end of the session, we saw the subindex that had been tracking AI related shares up 1.5 percent, and the 5G sub-index which also covers a lot of the chip supply chain companies, narrowed a more than 4 percent loss down to 1.3 percent," said the analyst.

Pope said that China's official Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, expected to be unveiled on Tuesday, would impact investors' decisions.

"Looking ahead to the rest of the week for the Chinese mainland, investors are going to be keenly watching China's official Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index data that is due out tomorrow, I believe. It's been hovering right on the edge of expansion territory lately, so that's likely to get plenty of attention," he said.

Chinese stocks edge higher after early period of hesitation

The framework agreement recently reached between Israel and Lebanon faces serious challenges in its implementation, according to Israeli experts.

After several days of negotiations brokered by the United States, Israel and Lebanon reached a new trilateral framework agreement aimed at ending the conflict in southern Lebanon.

The agreement was signed by the U.S., Israel and Lebanon on Friday at the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C. It calls for the disarming of all non-governmental armed factions in Lebanon, the deployment of the Lebanese army in southern areas of the country and a complete Israeli withdrawal back to the border.

Hezbollah says it will oppose the agreement and work to defeat it politically and practically. The group did not wait long before making a very public stand.

Just minutes after the announcement in Washington, thousands of Hezbollah supporters took to the streets of the Lebanese capital Beirut late Friday vowing to stand firmly against the agreement.

Parliament members aligned with Hezbollah added that the government has no authority to sign such a deal and it will therefore never stand.

"There is no way any Lebanese government could implement any agreement signed with Israel because it doesn't have the strength, it doesn't have the means and because of Hezbollah being in the opposition and holding the government by its throat," said Dr. Jacques Neriah, an analyst for the Middle East at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu already said the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) will not withdraw from the security zone they maintain in Lebanese territory before Hezbollah is disarmed.

"It is up to the seriousness by the Lebanese military and until such time that the IDF sees that the Lebanese army is serious and can take the job, only then does Israel retreat and there are pilot projects and I think it's the best way to go about it," said Or Yissachar, executive director of Israeli think tank David Institute for Security Policy.

Israel-Lebanon agreement faces challenges in implementation: Israeli experts