Hong Kong stocks surged more than three percent on Friday, in line with a global rally fuelled by relief over the timeline of US President Donald Trump's latest tariffs.
Sentiment was also boosted by a Bloomberg report that China had invited Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma and other entrepreneurs for a meeting with top brass, fuelling hopes of further support for the country's private sector.
The Hang Seng Index jumped 3.69 percent, or 805.96 points, to 22,620.33.
The president said Thursday he decided to impose fresh reciprocal duties on trading partners, telling reporters that US allies were often "worse than our enemies" on trade, calling the European Union "absolutely brutal".
However, commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick said studies on where and who to hit should be completed by April 1, and the tariffs could start the day after -- providing some relief to investors.
Tech firms led the surge in Hong Kong, with the sector getting a massive boost since Chinese startup DeepSeek last month upended the AI battle by unveiling a chatbot it said rivalled those of US tech giants -- but at a fraction of the cost.
Alibaba, which has already surged more than 40 percent in 2025, piled on 6.3 percent after also being given an extra leg-up Thursday when its chairman said it would supply AI technology to power Apple's iPhones in China.
Market heavyweights JD.com and Tencent each rose more than seven percent.
Source: AFP
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