Hong Kong Shares End Week With Sharp Gains

Hong Kong stocks finished Friday with a flourish, as investors were cheered by easing tensions in the China-US trade row while also betting on another interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week.

The Hang Seng Index jumped 1 percent, or 265 points, to 27,352.

Equities also rose elsewhere in Asia after the European Central Bank unveiled a fresh round of economic stimulus and another interest rate cut.

Global markets have been buoyed this week by a growing sense that central banks are on the brink of easing monetary policy to support growth, and on Thursday the ECB did not disappoint.

It said it would restart its bond-buying quantitative easing programme to boost liquidity, provide support for struggling banks and reduce borrowing costs deeper into negative territory in a bid to kickstart lending. The bank said it would not lift rates until inflation moved towards its goal of just under 2.0 percent over the medium term.

The news also provided further hope that the Federal Reserve would cut rates at its meeting next week, even though data showed a jump in US inflation last month.

Investors were given an extra fillip by a Bloomberg News report that US officials were considering an interim trade deal with China that could freeze or cancel some tariffs if Beijing agrees to commitments on intellectual property and agricultural purchases.

Tokyo ended more than one percent higher, with Sydney up 0.2 percent and Singapore 0.5 percent higher.

Mainland markets, Taipei and Seoul were all closed for the Mid-Autumn Festival. (AFP)