Hong Kong stocks climb on stimulus, policy hopes

Hong Kong stocks closed higher on Thursday, on hopes of more stimulus to support the island city's faltering growth amid political unrest.

** The Hang Seng index rose 0.9% to 26,797.95, while the China Enterprises Index gained 0.8% to 10,532.85. ** The city has announced more measures to bolster growth for the Chinese-ruled city battered by political unrest and facing its first recession in a decade.

** Massive and violent anti-government protests over the past five months have shaken Hong Kong's reputation as an Asian financial center and damaged its all-important tourism and retail sectors, with many businesses forced to close. ** Hong Kong's legislature on Wednesday formally withdrew planned legislation that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, meeting one of five demands of pro-democracy protesters but unlikely to end months of often violent unrest.

** Meanwhile, the focus was also on policy signals from the mainland. ** China's ruling Communist Party will hold a key meeting of its senior leadership next week after an unusually long delay since the last one, state media said, as the country grapples with issues ranging from a slowing economy to unrest in Hong Kong.

** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.35%, while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 0.55%. ** The yuan was quoted at 7.0712 per U.S. dollar at 0809 GMT, 0.06% weaker than the previous close of 7.0667.

** About 1.50 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded, roughly 104.9% of the market's 30-day moving average of 1.43 billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 1.27 billion. ** At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 28.64% over Hong Kong-listed H-shares.

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