SHANGHAI: China stocks ended higher on Friday ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, as strong foreign inflows boosted sentiment after the country said the worst in its battle against COVID-19 was over.

China’s blue-chip CSI 300 Index added 0.6%, touching a 5-month high, and the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.8%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.8%, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index climbed 2.3%.

In the week ahead of China’s new year holidays, the CSI 300 Index added 2.6%, while the Hang Seng benchmark was up 1.4%.

China said the worst was over in its battle against COVID-19 ahead of what is expected to be the busiest day of travel in years on Friday, a mass movement of people that has fed fears of a further surge in infections.

Foreign investors bought a net 9.2 billion yuan ($1.36 billion) of China shares via the Stock Connect scheme in a 13th buying streak on Friday.

In only three weeks of 2023, foreign buying of Chinese stocks reached 112.5 billion yuan ($16.61 billion) and exceeded last year’s total.

Resource shares jumped 2.7%, new energy firms added 2.1%, and infrastructure companies surged 3.1%.