Hong Kong shares gain 1.3 pct, telcos gain on 3G

* Chinese telcos rally on 3G licence hopes

* Lenovo climbs after restructuring report

* PCCW slips on Citigroup downgrade (Updates to midday)

By Parvathy Ullatil

HONG KONG, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares rose 1.3 percent on Monday, with China Mobile (0941.HK) rising for a second day on hopes that Chinese telecom operators will soon be issued licences to offer third generation (3G) services.

China's Lenovo Group (0992.HK) climbed 4.1 percent after the Chinese magazine Caijing said the world's No.4 personal computer maker was set to announce a major restructuring plan on Jan. 8 including changes of its top management.

The Hang Seng Index .HSI ended the morning session 1.3 percent higher at 15,230.87 with a 1.3 percent drop in HSBC Holdings (0005.HK) limiting gains.

"HSBC still faces a lot, many challenges in its U.S. and UK markets and the stock rebounded quite a lot on Friday," said Castor Pang, strategist with Sun Hung Kai Financial.

"The U.S. markets are leading Asian markets to a short-term recovery but it's not time to get bullish yet. This rebound is only a short-term phenomenon," he said.

The China Enterprises Index of top locally listed mainland Chinese firms .HSCE had risen 1.9 percent to 8,475.51 tracking a 2.1 percent rally on the Shanghai bourse on its first trading day of the year.

Aluminum Corp of China (2600.HK) jumped 5.7 percent, tracking similar gains in its Shanghai listed scrip (601600.SS) on hopes that it would benefit from the government's infrastructure building plans.

Energy stocks rose sharply for a second day in a row as oil prices continued to edge up after an Iranian military commander called for an oil boycott on heightened violence in the Middle East, while a Russian supply row added to geopolitical tensions.

Oil CLc1 stayed above $47 a barrel in Asian trade on Monday.

Offshore oil producer CNOOC (0883.HK) rose 4.7 percent while Asia's largest oil and gas producer PetroChina (0857.HK) rallied 3.5 percent.

Bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (0388.HK) (HKEx) jumped 4.2 percent on hopes of recovering volumes and turnover on the mainboard as investors returned to the market after a long Christmas and New Year holiday.

Turnover slumped to two-year lows in the last few days of December as long stretches of holidays kept investors on the sidelines but recovered to HK$25.1 billion ($3.2 billion) on Monday as compared with HK$15.6 billion by midday on Friday.

Fixed-line operator PCCW (0008.HK) fell 3.3 percent after Citigroup cut its rating on the stock to hold from sell following a sharp run-up in the stock since October on buyout hopes.

A rejection of the revised privatisation offer, up to HK$4.50 per share from HK$4.20, is expected to signal a 15 percent correction in the stock price, said Citi in a report on Monday.

The stock, which soared 7.2 percent to HK$3.7 on Dec. 31 after controlling shareholders Richard Li and China Netcom announced the improved takeover offer price, slipped to HK$3.54 on Monday.

China Mobile, the world's largest wireless carrier, rose 2.2 percent, adding to Friday's 4.4 percent rally after Beijing finally approved the issuance of licences for new mobile networks.

Smaller rival China Unicom (0762.HK) gained 4.6 percent.

(Reporting by Parvathy Ullatil; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)