BEIJING: Hong Kong stocks edged up on Thursday after two major British banks backed China's national security law for the city, easing concerns over the law's impact on the local business community.

At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was up 40.68 points, or 0.17pc, at 24,366.30.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises index was steady at 9,967.93.

The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares dipped 3.3pc, while the IT sector rose 1.25pc, the financial sector ended 0.4pc higher and the property sector dipped 0.38pc.

Hong Kong shares of HSBC and Standard Chartered rose on Thursday after the banks backed China's national security law for Hong Kong, allaying worries about their businesses getting hurt by any potential political crossfire in their largest market.

HSBC shares closed 1.83pc higher, having gained as much 2.8pc earlier. StanChart jumped 4.27pc.

Hong Kong shares were weighed down by the introduction of national security law in the past few sessions, although now more people are believing that it is beneficial for the long-term stability and prosperity of the financial hub, said Zhang Qi, an analyst at Haitong Securities.

China's main Shanghai Composite index closed down 0.14pc at 2,919.25 points, on deepening worries about Sino-US trade tensions after the Trump administration barred Chinese passenger carriers from flying to the United States, while the blue-chip CSI300 index ended down 0.04pc.

Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.35pc, while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 0.36pc.

The yuan was quoted at 7.122 per US dollar at 08:13 GMT, 0.08pc weaker than the previous close of 7.1166.