Tariff relief on tech goods drives rally in China, Hong Kong shares

HONG KONG, April 14 (Reuters) - Chinese and Hong Kong equity indexes rose on Monday as tech shares climbed after the White House exempted smartphones and computers from "reciprocal" U.S. tariffs, while the chip sector was weighed down by national security concerns.

China's blue-chip CSI300 Index .CSI300 climbed 0.2%, while the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC had gained 0.8% by the close, after losing 2.9% and 3.1% last week, respectively.

Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index .HIS rose 2.4% after an 8.5% loss last week. The Hang Seng Tech Index .HSTECH added 2.3%.

Trump's administration granted exclusions from steep tariffs on smartphones, computers and other electronics imported largely from China, while indicating these goods will come under separate tariffs, along with semiconductors, that may be imposed within a month.

China's Apple AAPL.O suppliers jumped on the temporary relief. The CSI Electronics Index .CSI930652 jumped 0.3%. Apple's main assembly partner Foxconn Industrial Internet 601138.SS rallied over 4% before closing up 0.7%, and components manufacturer BYD Electronics 0285.HK jumped 3%.

The All-Share Automobile Index .CSI931008 jumped 3%, also pulling markets higher.

Keeping a lid on gains, the CSI Semiconductor Index .CSI931865 declined as much as 0.9% after Trump said that chips from China will face a national security probe over the next week.

News of the smartphones and computer exemption "fuels expectation of potential improvement in trade relations, and even the prospect of trade negotiations", said Li Shuding, an investor adviser at Galaxy Securities.

He added that March loan data was better than expected, and "we expect intensive roll-out of policies" to support the economy.

Before Monday's rebound, the CSI 300 Index and Hang Seng Index had lost 3.5% and 9.9%, respectively, since April 2 when Trump announced sweeping tariffs against trading partners with China being the major target, raising concerns about slowing global economic growth and disruptions to trade.

Goldman Sachs has revised its 12-month targets for MSCI China .dMICN00000PUS and the CSI300 index, lowering them to 75 and 4,300, respectively, down from previous estimates of 81 and 4,500, respectively.

"U.S.-China trade tensions have soared to unprecedented levels, prompting concerns about global recession, and decoupling risks between the two largest economies globally in other strategic cohorts, notably capital markets, technology, and geopolitics," Kinger Lau, China strategist at Goldman, said in a note on Monday.

Elsewhere, China's exports rose 12.4% in March from a year earlier, handily beating 4.4% growth expected in a Reuters poll of economists after factories rushed out shipments before the latest U.S. tariffs took effect.