Hong Kong---Hong Kong shares closed 0.11 percent higher Friday, ending the week on a positive note after a surge on Wall Street as worries about a possible US rate hike eased.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 25.25 points to 23,823.21 on turnover of HK$73.71 billion ($9.51 billion). Shanghai added 0.70 percent.
The gains added to Thursday's advance, which broke a six-session losing streak that had been fuelled by concerns about China's economy and expectations of a US rate hike after last Friday's strong US jobs report.
While forecasts are for the Federal Reserve to lift interest rates by the end of the year, news that retail sales had fallen for a third consecutive month in February tempered talk of such a move in the summer.
The weak US data sent Wall Street soaring after the three main indexes gave back all their 2015 gains by the middle of this week.
The Dow jumped 1.47 percent, the S&P 500 added 1.26 percent and the Nasdaq added 0.89 percent.
Focus is now on the Fed's latest policy meeting next week, with investors looking for clues about the bank's timetable for lifting rates.
Tencent added 1.37 percent to HK$133.60, Cathay Pacific put on 90.73 percent to HK$16.60 and PetroChina rose 0.37 percent to HK$8.24.
But insurer AIA was down 1.06 percent at HK$46.65 and HSBC lost 0.84 percent to HK$65.00.
In mainland China the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 23.59 points to 3,372.91 on turnover of 374.0 billion yuan ($60.7 billion). The index added 4.06 percent over the week.
The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, gained 1.38 percent, or 23.24 points, to 1,708.08 on turnover of 287.3 billion yuan. It rose 3.41 percent for the week.
Investors were cheered by comments from the head of the central People's Bank of China, Zhou Xiaochuan, on Thursday that appeared to endorse more fund flows into the stock market.
"Zhou's comments support gains in the stock market and reassure investors that the rally is still healthy," Wang Zheng, chief investment officer at Jingxi Investment Management, told Bloomberg News.
Shanghai last year surged more than 50 percent on hopes for government easing measures to kickstart the economy.
Airlines were among the biggest gainers in Shanghai. China Southern Airlines surged by its 10 percent daily limit to 6.46 yuan and China Eastern Airlines jumped 5.50 percent to 5.95 yuan.
Banks were also higher. Shanghai-listed Industrial Bank rose 3.26 percent to 16.49 yuan while Shenzhen-listed Ping An Bank gained 2.67 percent to 14.99 yuan.
AFP
