HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks rose for a third straight session on Friday, with investors accumulating shares ahead of the reopening of China markets next week after the week-long Lunar New Year holidays.

Traders said investors were betting on a strong start, awaiting Chinese authorities’ moves to support the struggling stock and property markets, among others.

Mainland China’s financial markets were closed through this week for Lunar New Year.

The Hang Seng index ended up 395.33 points, or 2.48%, at 16,339.96. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index rose 2.73% to 5,558.86.

Five state-owned Chinese banks have been matched with more than 8,200 residential projects for development loans under the “whitelist” mechanism aimed at injecting liquidity into the crisis-hit sector, government-backed media The Paper reported.

The Hang Seng energy sub-index climbed 0.9%, while the technology index surged 3.71%, the financial sector rose 1.41% and the mainland property index jumped 6.76%.

The top gainer on the Hang Seng was WuXi Biologics, which jumped 12.06%, while the top gainer among H-shares was Longfor Group which was up 10.22%.

Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.96%, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 0.86%.