The Hang Seng Index jumped 2.4 per cent to 16,792.19 on Friday, as 90 per cent of the benchmark index members advanced. The Tech Index surged 2.2 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.6 per cent.

Longfor Group surged 6.3 per cent to HK$13.18 while peer China Resources Land advanced 5.8 per cent to HK$28.05, leading a 3.8 per cent rally in an index tracking mainland Chinese developers. Tencent appreciated 2.6 per cent to HK$314.40, Alibaba Group climbed 3.7 per cent to HK$71.65 and JD.com gained 7 per cent to HK$105.70.

Today’s advance helped push the Hang Seng Index to a 2.8 per cent gain since last Friday, the most since the July 28 week. Stocks rallied earlier this week after the Federal Reserve kept its key rate unchanged, with markets cheering its dovish stance on rates outlook.

“We are starting to see the light at end of the tunnel” with Fed rates peaking out and China ramping up support for the economy, said Dickie Wong, executive director at Kingston Securities. Almost all the bad news have been priced in and Hong Kong stocks are ripe for a rebound, he added.

Beijing and Shanghai cuts down payments to revive housing markets

Vinda International, a paper manufacturer, surged 9.2 per cent to HK$22.60. Indonesian billionaire Sukanto Tanoto offered HK$26.1 billion (US$3.3 billion), or HK$23.50 per share, to buy 92.3 per cent of the company his family does not already own, to grow its pulp-and-paper empire spanning from China to Spain and Brazil.

Asian markets traded higher on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 both gained 0.9 per cent, while Korea’s Kospi added 0.8 per cent.