HK Ends The Week With A Loss, Asian Markets Up

Hong Kong stocks ended a volatile week with a small loss on Friday despite a broad Asian rally on easing fears of a China-US trade war.

The Hang Seng Index dipped 0.1 percent, to 30,808.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.7 percent, to 3,159, while the Shenzhen Composite Index lost 0.3 percent, to 1,834.

Other Asian markets mostly were positive as Donald Trump soothed concerns about military action in Syria while also sparking hopes the US could rejoin a massive Pacific-wide free-trade pact.

"Remarkable. That's the only thing I can really say in the past 36 hours or so about the change in tone that seems to be emanating from the president and the White House," said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader.

"President Trump is walking back from the brink on so many fronts it's making my head spin," he added.

"It's becoming clear his tweets are part of an anchoring approach he uses in negotiations and then eases away from to achieve what he wants. It's working on many fronts and he's eased back on China and Russia/Syria this week and there was news last night he's even reconsidering the TPP."

Tokyo's Nikkei ended up 0.6 percent, while Sydney gained 0.2 percent and Seoul added 0.5 percent. Singapore put on 0.9 percent, while Wellington and Taipei were also higher. (AFP)