The Hong Kong market closed higher on Friday, after China pledged to prop up slowing economic growth and appeared to make progress in its trade talks with the United States. At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was up 0.6 percent at 29,012.26 points, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises index rose 0.5 percent. The Hang Seng gained 2.8 percent this week, while H-shares were up 3.1 percent week-on-week.
The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares rose 1.5 percent, while the IT sector gained 1.1 percent, the financial sector ended 0.3 percent higher and the property sector rose 0.4 percent. The top gainer on the Hang Seng was Sunny Optical Technology Group Co Ltd, which gained 5.1 percent, while the biggest loser was Shenzhou International Group Holdings Ltd, which fell 1.4 percent.
About 2.04 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 1.43 billion. China will not let economic growth slip out of a reasonable range amid downward pressure on its economy, Li said on Friday at a press conference marking the end of the annual meeting of the National People's Congress. The Chinese premier pledged strong measures to support growth, saying that the government could use tools such as reserve requirements and interest rates.