Hong Kong share prices closed 1.18 percent higher on Thursday following regional gains after a positive opening to the third-quarter US corporate earnings season. The benchmark Hang Seng Index finished 251.31 points higher at 21,492.9. Turnover was 59.87 billion Hong Kong dollars (7.72 billion US).
The index rose for a fourth straight session after local property developers got a boost from Goldman Sachs' upbeat comments on the sector and the release of stronger-than-expected Australian jobs data. The Hang Seng Index has risen 5.5 percent since October 2. Goldman reaffirmed its upbeat outlook on property, which it attributed to growing purchasing power in mainland China.
"On the back of steady economic growth on the mainland and the (Hong Kong) government's successful policies to attract both financial and human capital from the mainland to Hong Kong, we have witnessed an accelerating influx of mainland buyers into the Hong Kong housing market," Anthony Wu, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, told Dow Jones Newswires.
The property subindex rose 2.5 percent. Sun Hung Kai Properties rose 2.9 percent to 116.10 Hong Kong dollars and Cheung Kong gained 3.2 percent to 98.50. Henderson Land was up 2.9 percent at 50.75. Australia's announcement that unemployment for September had fallen to 5.7 percent from 5.8 percent in August also buoyed shares. The market had expected a rise to 5.9 percent and investors took the better-than-expected figure as a sign of further global recovery. Aluminium Corp of China, or Chalco, was the best-performing blue chip, rising 4.3 percent to 9.14 after US peer Alcoa posted a third-quarter profit after three quarterly losses in a row.
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