HSI Heads North On US Stimulus Hopes

Local blue-chips edged higher on Friday while regional shares put on a record showing, thanks to signs of progress in US stimulus talks.

Investor sentiment was boosted after American lawmakers showed support for a bipartisan stimulus package, as well as expectations of more accommodative central bank policies.

But the optimism in Hong Kong was clouded by the grim local epidemic situation.

The Hang Seng Index opened higher but dipped into negative territory.

It later recovered those losses to finish 107 points, or 0.4 percent higher, at 26,835.

Turnover was HK$172.3 billion.

Alibaba and Ping An insurance each jumped 2.6 percent.

HSBC inched up 0.8 percent after Goldman Sachs says it expects the Bank of England to allow the bank to resume dividend payments.

Meituan surged 4.6 percent ahead of its inclusion in the Hang Seng Index on Monday.

The biggest blue-chip loser was CNOOC, which slid 3.9 percent after it was blacklisted by Washington. Another company on the list, SMIC, sank 5.4 percent.

Across the border, the Shanghai Composite Index ended the day less than 0.1 percent higher, while the blue-chip CSI300 index gained 0.2 percent. The Shenzhen Composite index was up half a percent.

Across the region, tech shares led the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan above its previous record set on November 25.

The Kospi in South Korea rallied 1.3 percent. Australia rose 0.3 percent. Taiwan jumped 1.1 percent. Singapore was up about half a percent. But the Nikkei in Tokyo edged down 0.2 percent on profit-taking.