HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks rose for the fourth session in a row on Wednesday, as China's pledge to open its financial sector further gave additional relief to investors after President Xi Jinping's commitment to reform on Tuesday eased fears of a Sino-US trade war.
But the market gave lukewarm reaction to China's widely-expected move to quadruple daily quotas for stock connect schemes linking mainland and Hong Kong markets starting May 1, a month ahead of China's MSCI inclusion.
The Hang Seng index rose 0.6 percent, to 30,897.71, while the China Enterprises Index was unchanged at 12,324.68.
China will allow foreign investors to enter its trust, financial leasing, auto finance and consumer finance sectors by the end of this year, the country's central bank said on Wednesday.
China also will raise foreign ownership limits to 51 percent in securities, fund management, futures and life insurance companies over next few months, the People's Bank of China said.
The central bank's announcement comes a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to open the economy further to foreign investors and cut import tariffs on products including cars.
The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares rose 2.1 percent, the IT sector gained 0.3 percent, the financial sector was 1.1 percent higher and the property sector climbed 0.15 percent.
The top gainer on Hang Seng was AIA Group Ltd up 4.61 percent, while the biggest loser was Sunny Optical Technology Group Co Ltd which was down 3.41 percent.
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.01 percent, while Japan's Nikkei index closed down 0.49 percent .
The yuan was quoted at 6.2845 per US dollar at 08:20 GMT, 0.06 percent weaker than the previous close of 6.281.
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