Hong Kong stocks post 3rd weekly gain on Sino-U.S. trade deal

Hong Kong stocks ended higher on Friday, recording their third straight weekly gain on easing trade tensions between Washington and Beijing after they agreed on a phase one trade deal last week.

** The Hang Seng index rose 0.3% to 27,871.35, while the China Enterprises Index gained 0.4% to 11,030.23. ** For the week, HSI was up 0.7%, while HSCE added 1.8%.

** U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday the United States and China would sign their so-called phase one trade pact at the beginning of January, adding that it was completely finished and just undergoing a technical "scrub." ** China on Thursday unveiled a new list of import tariff exemptions for six chemical and oil products from the United States, days after the world's two largest economies announced the initial trade deal.

** Market participants paid close attention to Chinese President Xi Jinping's remarks on Hong Kong amid anti-government protests in the Asian financial hub. ** Xi said on Friday China would never allow foreign forces to interfere with its special regions of Hong Kong and Macau, as he swore in a new pro-Beijing government for the gambling hub of Macau.

** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.03%, while Japan's Nikkei index closed down 0.2%. ** The yuan was quoted at 7.0108 per U.S. dollar at 08:19 GMT, 0.01% weaker than the previous close of 7.01.

** At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 26.42% over Hong Kong-listed H-shares.