Hong Kong, Shanghai Stocks Up, Oil Prices Rise

Hong Kong stocks rallied more than one percent on Friday morning as energy firms tracked a surge in oil prices and technology companies were boosted by upbeat earnings from their US counterparts.

The Hang Seng Index added 1.3 percent, to 27,483.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.6 percent, to 2,606 and the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 0.4 percent, to 1,326.

Most other Asian markets rose, putting them on course to end a shaky week on a positive note.

Tokyo went into the break one percent higher.

Sydney jumped 0.8 percent, Singapore gained 0.5 percent and Seoul was 0.7 percent higher. Taipei was nearly 1 percent up, while Manila, Wellington and Jakarta were also well up.

Oil prices rallied more than one percent as instability in Venezuela fuelled concerns about supplies from the major producer, with US President Donald Trump weighing sanctions on Nicolas Maduro's regime and backing opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's interim president.

"It's a function of people keeping an eye on supply concerns out of Venezuela," Marshall Steeves, an energy markets analyst at Informa Economics, told Bloomberg News. "That's the overriding issue today." (AFP)

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