SINGAPORE — Stocks in Asia-Pacific rose in Monday morning trade, as investors await the release of China’s GDP data.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 1.47% in early trade, with shares of HSBC listed in the city gaining more than 3%.

Shares of Alibaba in Hong Kong rose more than 1.5%. The Chinese tech giant’s financial technology affiliate Ant Group has received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission for the Hong Kong leg of its anticipated listing, a source told CNBC.

Meanwhile, Sun Art Retail Group’s stock soared more than 28% after Alibaba announced it agreed to acquire controlling stakes in the firm.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.22% in morning trade while the Topix index added 1.42%.

Japan’s exports fell 4.9% as compared to a year earlier in September, according to trade statistics released by the country’s Ministry of Finance on Monday.

South Korea’s Kospi also advanced 0.74%.

Meanwhile, shares in Australia edged higher, with the S&P/ASX 200 up about 1.1%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.9% higher.

Investor focus on Monday will be on China’s GDP print for the third quarter, as well as industrial production and retail sales data for September.

“We expect the data dump will highlight China’s economic recovery is well underway,” strategists at Commonwealth Bank of Australia wrote in a note.

“Unlike many other economies, China’s economic recovery has been strong.  Infection rates have remained low and policymakers have been able to focus on rebooting the economy, rather than health outcomes.,” the strategists said.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 93.676 after touching levels around 93.9 in recent days.

The Japanese yen traded at 105.42 per dollar after seeing levels below 105.3 against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7101 following its decline last week from levels above $0.715.

Oil prices were little changed in the morning of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up fractionally to $42.95 per barrel. U.S. crude futures was above the flatline.

What’s on tap:

• China: Third quarter GDP, industrial production, retail sales and fixed asset investment data for September at 10:00 a.m. HK/SIN

— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.