Mainland stocks extended their five-week rally on Monday, with the rare earth sector climbing to a three-year high ahead of crucial trade talks with the United States, while insurers gained following an industry policy change that boosted sentiment.

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index ended up 173 points, or 0.68 percent, at 25,562.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 0.29 percent to end at 9,17 while the Hang Seng Tech Index fell 0.24 percent to close at 5,664.

Insurers AIA, Ping An and China Life gained between 2 percent and 4.9 percent.

However, the tech index lost 0.2 percent.

Up north, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.12 percent to 3,597, hovering near the highest level in three-and-a-half years while the Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.44 percent higher at 11,217.

The combined turnover of these two indexes stood at about 1.74 trillion yuan, down from 1.79 trillion yuan on Friday.

Stocks related to copper clad laminate and printed circuit board led gains, while stocks related to coal and antimony suffered major losses.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, increased 0.96 percent to close at 2,362.

The Sino-US trade talks will likely see the trade truce extended by three months, preventing the implementation of higher tariffs, according to analysts.

The insurance sector added nearly 3 percent to rank among the best performers onshore, after the industry body cut the reference rate for life insurance products.

"Investor concerns on US-China trade frictions appear to have eased," Kinger Lau, chief China equity strategist at Goldman Sachs, said in a note. "A potential US-China trade deal could be a market-clearing event for Chinese stocks." (Reuters/Xinhua)