Hong Kong stocks gave up most of their gains as investors reassessed the outlook of a quick global recovery spurred by a bullish US job report after China posted a decline in exports. The Hang Seng Index added less than 0.1 per cent, or 6.36 points, to 24,776.77 at the close, after rallying by as much as 1 per cent. Still, the rising streak of six says was the best run in seven months. Geely Automobile and oil producer Cnooc gained while Chinese banks retreated. The benchmark’s volatility index fell on Monday to the level preceding the global outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in March. While the US nonfarm payroll report sent stocks in the US and Europe surging on Friday trading and dampened safe assets such as good, traders in Asia were keeping a close watch on the strength of China’s economy, the biggest in the region. Overseas shipments declined 3.3 per cent from a year earlier in May, according to a report released over the weekend by the customs office. The drop was, however, smaller than economists predicted. Imports plunged 16.7 per cent, worsening from April. In the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.2 per cent to 2,937.77. The S&P 500 Index has erased this year’s loss after a three-week advance, while the Nasdaq Composite Index hit an intraday record on Friday. US nonfarm payrolls unexpectedly rose by 2.5 million in May, beating the forecast for as sharp decline, and following a 20.7 million job losses for the previous month that was the largest in records back to 1939. “The collapse in China imports has seen Asia trade more cautiously,” said Jeffery Halley, a strategist at Oanda in Singapore. “With the region's economies so inextricably linked to China, the rest of Asia will be hoping that trade data was a temporary blip, and not the harbinger of deeper woes. The China data is likely to temper the exuberance.” In other markers, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index and Taiwan’s Taiex added more than 1 per cent on Monday, while gold contracts hovered around the lowest level in two months in Asia. Oil futures traded near a three-month high, as OPEC+ members pledged to continue with record production cuts. Hong Kong’s government will ease the 14-day quarantine rule for executives from the city’s largest listed companies visiting the former British colony, said Christopher Hui Ching-yu, secretary for financial services and the treasury, in an interview with the South China Morning Post . The list includes Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding, the owner of the Post . The focus this week will be on the Federal Reserve’s open-market committee, which meets on June 9 and 10, and its analysis on the state of the US economy and record stimulus measures. As Kweichow Moutai’s huge run-up leaves investors giddy, sobering signs suggest the party could be coming to an end Among the 50 members on the Hang Seng Index, 25 rose, 23 dropped and the remaining two were unchanged. Cnooc gained 2.1 per cent to HK$9.53. Geely advanced 1.7 per cent to HK$11.96 after saying wholesales of its passenger car increased 20 per cent from a year earlier in May. Citigroup said the number was encouraging. Shanghai Junshi Biosciences jumped 11 per cent to HK$48.50, paring an intraday gain of as much as 37 per cent. The cancer drug developer announced phase-one clinical trial to study the safety of a drug candidate that could potentially treat the Covid-19 disease. In the mainland, stocks linked to the so-called street-vendor economy slumped after a one-day euphoria. Some of the state media downplayed its significance in supporting growth, with China Central Television saying that people should not follow the trend blindly. Minivan maker Chongqing Sokon Industry Group tumbled by the 10 per cent daily limit to 10.31 yuan and Haining China Leather Market slid 8.7 per cent to 4.51 yuan. The stocks had surged on expectation about policy support after Premier Li Keqiang praised the role of market stalls in the economic recovery during a visit to the coastal Shandong province. Bucking the trend, liquor producer Kweichow Moutai slipped 1.3 per cent from a record high to 1,406.10 yuan in Shanghai, as Morningstar cautioned its lofty valuation may be unsustainable. With additional reporting by Eric Ng