Late Surge Helps Hong Kong Stocks Extend Rally

Hong Kong stocks ended sharply higher on Thursday thanks to a late rally on fresh optimism over the China-US trade talks.

A surge in late buying lifted the Hang Seng index out of the red. It rallied more than 200 points around half an hour before the market closed, reversing a losing trend that it was in for most of the day. The index closed at 27,847.

Shares of drug makers were robust. CSPC Pharmaceutical surged more than 4 percent. Sino Biopharmaceutical rallied more than 2 percent.

But shares of Nissin Foods plunged 6 percent after the instant noodles maker posted a lower than expected rise in revenue. The shares later pared the loss and closed two and a half percent lower.

Across the border, the Shanghai Composite Index ended flat, at 2,978 while the Shenzhen Composite Index added 0.6 percent, to 1,651.

A planned meeting between presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump is said to have been delayed until December as talks continue over terms, and the venue.

In Japan, the Nikkei Index ended 0.1 percent higher after shares traded in and out of positive territory.

South Korea finished almost unchanged. Singapore rose half a percent. And Taiwan slipped marginally.