Hong Kong, Shanghai End The Week With Gains

Hong Kong stocks ended with healthy gains on Friday, topping off a broadly positive week, as Donald Trump sounded a note of optimism over China-US trade talks.

The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong climbed 0.6 percent, to close at 29,012.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index gained over 1 percent, to 3,021 – adding 1.7 percent over the week.

The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 1.4 percent, to 1,641. It rose 2.2 percent since last Friday.

Tokyo ended 0.8 percent higher, while Singapore put on 0.1 percent and Seoul climbed one percent. Taipei was up 0.9 percent with Wellington, Mumbai and Jakarta also up.

However, Sydney ended marginally lower.

While traders remain uneasy about the global economy, there is some optimism.

"There is a pretty good backdrop going forward," said Margaret Patel, portfolio manager at Wells Fargo Asset Management.

"We're in a low-inflation environment for the foreseeable future and that really changes the equation about equity values – they can go higher. The Fed isn't going to do much and inflation remains stubbornly low," she told Bloomberg TV.

On currency markets the pound stabilised after a week that saw wild fluctuations as Prime Minister Theresa May suffered a series of embarrassing defeats in parliament as she struggles to push through her Brexit deal. (AFP)