HONG KONG: Hong Kong shares finished higher on Thursday on the back of gains in the financials and property sectors, while a rebound in tech stocks on Wednesday failed to sustain.

The Hang Seng index rose 0.6% to 23,788.93, while the China Enterprises Index gained 1.0% to 8,506.36 points.

The financials subindex gained 1.3%, with HSBC Holdings and China Construction Bank Corp up 1.2% and 2.5%, respectively.

Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index added 2.4%. Longfor Group Holdings Ltd surged 3.1% and Country Garden Holdings Co jumped 4.1%, as they planned to sell bonds to raise money.

Corporate bonds issued by real estate companies nearly tripled in November from the previous month to 37.1 billion yuan ($5.82 billion), the official China Securities Journal reported.

“We expect the government to take further steps to stabilise the sector,” Fitch Ratings said in a note.

“However, any further policy loosening will be measured, given the government’s clear intent to see deleveraging in the sector and curb speculative demand.”

The Hang Seng Tech Index retreated 0.7%.

Alibaba Group extended losses to fall 2.5% to a record low, after missing quarterly revenue expectations and forecasting slow growth.

However, Tencent Holdings and Meituan added more than 1% each.

Hong Kong-listed gambling stocks, which tumbled for three straight sessions after arrests of 11 people in Macau, rebounded 1.7% at close.