HSI Ends With Small Losses

The Hong Kong market finished Friday slightly lower as the region posted a mixed picture ahead of a key US jobs report due out later in the day.

The Hang Seng Index opened 58 points higher but quickly fell into the red and lost as many as 202 points. A recovery by some heavyweight tech firms provided some support and the index flipped between gains and losses before finishing down 25 points, or 0.1 percent, at 26,179, on turnover of HK$148 billion.

But the local benchmark managed to eke out 0.8 percent of gains for the week.

Tencent was the day's top blue-chip performer, jumping 3.3 percent. Meituan rose 1.2 percent. Alibaba put on 0.5 percent. Xiaomi inched up 0.2 percent.

CNOOC rallied 3.1 percent as oil prices rebounded on rising Middle East tensions. But PetroChina was flat and Sinopec trimmed 0.6 percent.

CK Hutchison added 2.6 percent after the conglomerate reported that its interim net profit surged 40 percent. But sister company, CK Asset, slipped 0.2 percent, despite the developer posting a 30 percent rise in first half profits.

Kuaishou Technology continued to slump to new lows. The short-video sharing platform sank 4.7 percent after tumbling more than 15 percent the day before.

Mainland dairy firms and milk formula makers were pummelled after state-backed media called for tighter control over the sale of the products. Mengniu Dairy fell nearly 6 percent before recovering the losses. China Feihe closed down more than 4 percent. Yashili International lost 5 percent.

Markets across the border also finished in negative territory. The Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.2 percent, while the blue-chip CSI300 index dropped 0.6 percent. The Shenzhen Composite skidded 0.2 percent.

Taiwan retreated 0.4 percent. South Korea declined 0.2 percent. Singapore was little changed. But shares in Japan and Australia rose more than 0.3 percent.