Hong Kong Joins Asian Stock Market Rally

Hong Kong stocks surged more than 1 percent on Thursday, in line with a rally across Asian markets as energy firms were fired up by big gains in oil prices, while Syria and trade fears were also easing.

The Hang Seng Index jumped 1.4 percent, to 30,708 after four straight losses.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.8 percent, to 3,117 and the Shenzhen Composite Index put on 0.6 percent, to 1,814.

Most other Asian markets enjoyed another day of gains.

Tokyo stocks closed marginally higher after a joint post-summit news conference by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump delivered few surprises. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.2 percent, to 22,191.

Singapore gained more than 1 percent while Sydney and Seoul both climbed 0.3 percent. Taipei, Wellington and Jakarta were also higher.

Energy firms across the region were boosted, with Hong Kong-listed PetroChina up 5.7 percent and CNOOC 4.4 percent higher. Woodside Petroleum added 1 percent in Sydney and Inpex put on a similar amount in Tokyo.

On currency markets, the pound struggled to bounce back against the dollar after diving from post-Brexit vote highs on data showing a surprise drop in British inflation.

And the upbeat sentiment across markets has provided support to the greenback against the safe haven yen. (AFP)