Hong Kong stocks touch one-month high on economic recovery hopes

Hong Kong's stock market rose on Friday, reaching its highest in over a month at one point, on expectations that global monetary policy will remain supportive and the spread of COVID-19 will further slow in the financial hub.

Hong Kong's stock market rose on Friday, reaching its highest in over a month at one point, on expectations that global monetary policy will remain supportive and the spread of COVID-19 will further slow in the financial hub. ** The Hang Seng index closed 0.6% higher on Friday at 25,422.06, a bit lower than the one-month high hit earlier in the session, but the benchmark still managed a weekly gain of 1.2%. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 0.2%. ** The U.S. Federal Reserve on Thursday signalled a shift in its policy framework by placing more emphasis on boosting economic growth and less on worries about letting inflation run too high. ** Hong Kong eased some coronavirus measures from Friday after daily new cases fell from triple digits to low double digits in recent weeks. ** "Hong Kong stocks will likely perform well in the short to medium term, with the easing of global monetary policy expected to continue and a calming of the pandemic locally," said CHIEF Group.

** However, it also warned of risks such as earnings from Chinese banks and Sino-U.S. tensions. ** Some of China's largest banks are set to post their first drop in first-half profits since the global financial crisis. ** About 2.07 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded, more than the previous session's 1.70 billion.