Hong Kong stocks opened largely flat at the start of Monday's trading session, following a strong U.S. labor market report from Friday that signalled a high chance of interest rate hikes.
The Hang Seng Index opened marginally higher at 25,652.97. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index barely moved in negative territory at 8,548.06.
According to the latest employment report published by the U.S Labor Department, nonfarm payrolls came in at 162,000 jobs for August, while the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1%. July and June jobs data were also updated to reflect an upward revision of 21,000 and 31,000 jobs, respectively.
On the geopolitical front, Middle East tensions showed no signs of easing, with Iran attacking an unmanned U.S. ship on Sunday that was trying to travel through the Strait of Hormuz in response to Saturday attacks by the U.S. on three Iranian oil tankers.