Hong Kong and China stocks reported rise amid optimisim

Hong Kong stocks closed higher on Friday to log their third monthly gain, tracking gains in the mainland as investors cheered Beijing's pledge to further liberalise financial markets, and on renewed hopes of progress in the U.S.-China trade talks. The Hang Seng index rose 1.0 per cent to 29,051.36, while the China Enterprises Index gained 0.8 per cent to 11,379.62.

For the week, the HSI index slipped 0.2 per cent, while The SCE index eased 1.2 per cent. For the month, the HSI gained 1.5 per cent, while HSCE inched up 0.1 per cent, both posting their third monthly climb.

Hong Kong was encouraged by a surge in mainland stocks, as Beijing vowed to further open up its financial markets. Hopes of progress in Sino-U.S. trade talks also lifted sentiment.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday he and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer had concluded "constructive" trade talks in Beijing. Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.75 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 0.82 per cent.

The yuan was quoted at 6.7206 per U.S. dollar at 08:14 GMT, 0.28 per cent firmer than the previous close of 6.7398. The top gainers among H-shares were Air China Ltd up 8.19 per cent, followed by Huatai Securities Co Ltd, gaining 5.76 per cent and CITIC Securities Co Ltd, up by 5.64 per cent.

The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were CRRC Corp Ltd, which was down 8.32 per cent, Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd, which fell 2.7 per cent and China Telecom Corp Ltd, down by 1.6 per cent. About 2.78 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded, roughly 140.8 per cent of the market's 30-day moving average of 1.97 billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 1.63 billion.

At the close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 24.88 per cent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.