Hong Kong Stocks Closed with 3rd Consecutive Weekly Gains

SHANGHAI, China – Hong Kong stocks rallied on Friday, closing the trading week with a third consecutively weekly gain as it continues to revel on the easing trade tensions between the US and China after both countries have agreed to finalize the partial trade agreement last week.

On Friday, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong tracked around a 0.3% increase, settling at 27,871.35 as the trading session closes. The China Enterprise index was also trading positively, ending the week 0.4% higher towards 11,030.23.

To conclude the week, the HSCE increased by 1.8%, while the HSI advanced by around 0.7%

The advance in the Asian stock market on Friday was boosted by recent comments regarding phase one of the trade deal. On Thursday, Steven Mnuchin, US Treasury Secretary, said that the US and China are expected to sign the initial trade agreement early in January 2020. He further added that the partial trade deal is already complete and is only going through some technical scrub.

Further, the market sentiment on Friday was largely focused on the new list that China published regarding its latest tariff exemptions for six oil and chemical products from the US. The list from China came several days after both countries announced that the initial trade deal is going forward.

Market players have also paid close attention during the day on the remarks from Chinese President Xi Jinping regarding Hong Kong while anti-government protests and unrest have been going on in the financial hub of Asia for a long time.

On Friday, according to Chinese President Xi, the Chinese government will stand firm and won’t allow any foreign forces to interfere with whatever is going on in the special regions of Macau and Hong Kong. President Xi, during his speech, also swore in a new and better pro-Beijing government regarding the gambling hub located in Macau.

Elsewhere in Asia, the Asia ex-Japan stock index of MSCI, on the other hand, didn’t ride with the optimistic sentiments in most Asian markets. The index traded weaker on Friday, going down by around 0.03%.

The Nikkei index of Japan also traded lower for the day, ending the week down by around 0.2%.

The Chinese yuan was also modestly down for the day. Compared to its day close on Thursday, which was at 7.01, it went down on Friday by 0.01% around 08:19 GMT, settling at 7.0108 against the US dollar.

On the other hand, the A-shares of China was trading at a premium to close the week, recording a hefty 26.42% against the H-shares listed in Hong Kong.