HSI Logs Small Gains In Mixed Regional Performance

Investors traded cautiously on Thursday to send shares in the region in different directions, as they looked ahead to fresh inflation figures from the US for clues on the Federal Reserve's policy stance.

The Hang Seng Index began in positive territory, but briefly dipped into the red before lunch. It finished up 65 points, or 0.2 percent, at 28,882, on turnover of HK$134 billion.

Most tech shares continued their rebound. Meituan jumped 2.3 percent. Alibaba gained 1.4 percent. Tencent inched up 0.1 percent. But Xiaomi was flat.

PetroChina advanced 2.2 percent, Sinopec added 1.2 percent and CNOOC was 0.1 percent firmer, as oil prices rose for a second day on positive outlook for fuel demand.

The top blue-chip gainer was Xinyi Solar. The mainland solar glass manufacturer jumped 3.4 percent after HSBC raised its price target on the stock.

Shares of mainland developer China Evergrande soared as much as 8.8 percent before giving back some of the gains to finish 4.2 percent higher, after the heavily indebted company said it had allocated funds for a US bond repayment.

The biggest losers on the benchmark were Techtronic Industries and AAC Technologies, which gave up two percent.

Auto blue-chips gave up some of their recent gains. Geely Auto and BYD Company each slipped about one percent.

Across the border, the Shanghai Composite index was flat, while the blue-chip CSI300 index put on 0.2 percent. But the Shenzhen Composite lost 0.5 percent.

Around the region, Japan's Nikkei finished little changed. The Kospi in South Korea edged up 0.3 percent. Taiwan gained 0.4 percent. Singapore was up slightly. But Australia declined 0.3 percent.