HK Gains, MSCI Listing Fails To Lift Shanghai

Hong Kong stocks ended slightly higher on Friday as investors brushed off fresh worries about a trade war, but mainland markets retreated as the tariffs row overshadowed the debut of more than 200 firms on a key MSCI benchmark index.

The Hang Seng Index climbed 0.1 percent, to 30,492.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index stumbled 0.7 percent lower, to 3.075 and the Shenzhen Composite Index slipped 1.2 percent, to 1,746.

There was no impact on mainland company shares listed for the first time on MSCI's Emerging Markets Index as Shanghai market stayed in red.

Their inclusion means major investors wanting to track the index will now have to buy stocks in the more than 200 mainland firms, though their weighting for now is miniscule, making up just 0.4 percent.

"In the future, we will see more funds pour in, but not initially," said Jackson Wong, securities analyst with Huarong International Securities.

He added that foreign investors remain cautious over mainland's volatile equities, where government meddling and the irrational decisions of millions of individual retail punters often trump fundamentals.

Most other Asian markets fell as fears of a trade war blasted back to the fore after Donald Trump imposed stiff tariffs on European, Mexican and Canadian steel and aluminium.

Tokyo ended down 0.1 percent while Sydney lost 0.4 percent.

Singapore was 0.1 percent off and Wellington dropped 0.3 percent, but Seoul edged up 0.7 percent and Taipei was 0.7 percent higher. (AFP)