The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong closed the morning session up 11.01 points, or 0.04 percent, at 25,895.44 points, after President Donald Trump announced the cancellation of plans to attack Iran and said negotiations would begin this afternoon. This raised hopes that Middle East tensions would ease and lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar had asked the US to cancel the attack plans because they believed a deal would be reached, and he also claimed that Iran had asked for the attack plans to be cancelled.