Hong Kong stocks closed up 0.96 percent at 18,679.53 at end of a session of no clear directions on Friday.

Over the past week, the benchmark Hang Seng Index has gained 508.53 points, or 2.8 percent, and managed to stay clear of the 18,000 mark. In some of the sessions, it also edged close to 19,000 but soon retreated thereafter, suggesting strong resistance.

The turnover totaled 80.4 billion HK dollars (10.31 billion U.S. dollars), compared with Thursday's 83.04 billion HK dollars (10.65 billion U.S. dollars).

Most of the energy stocks shone on the market Friday, benefiting from rising oil prices and a coal price deal in two Chinese mainland provinces.

Offshore oil producer CNOOC surged 4.68 percent, followed by coal producer China Shenhua and oil giant PetroChina, which rose 3.01 percent and 2.96 percent, respectively.

Sinopec, an oil giant whose scope of business mainly covered refining, edged down 0.02 HK dollars, or 0.34 percent, to close at 5.83 HK dollars.

Banking giant and market heavyweight HSBC lost 2.01 percent, whereas China Mobile, the giant telecommunications operator on the Chinese mainland, gained 1.15 percent.

HSBC suffered selling pressure due to a downward adjustment of its weighting in the blue chip Hang Seng Index from 20.11 percent to 15 percent, whereas the weighting of China Mobile will be increased from 9.63 percent to 10.19 percent. Many other mainland-based firms benefited, too, from the adjustment due on Monday.

The commerce and industry sub-index, advancing 2.02 percent, was the biggest gainer among the four major categories. The properties trailed with gains of 1.79 percent, while the utilities and the financials gained 0.48 and 0.07 percent, respectively.

Cheung Kong, the business conglomerate headed by Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka-shing, closed up 1.16 percent at 95.55 HK dollars, while leading residential housing developer Sun Hung Kai Properties finished up 1.71 percent at 101 HK dollars.

Hang Seng Bank, the local unit of HSBC, was up 1.11 percent at 118.3 HK dollars, while Bank of East Asia gained 2 percent to close at 28 HK dollars.

BOC Hong Kong was down 0.84 percent at 14.16 HK dollars.

ICBC, the biggest commercial lender on the Chinese mainland, added 1.66 percent, and China Construction Bank gained 0.97 percent. Bank of China advanced 2.89 percent.

Chalco, or Aluminum Corporation of China Limited, lost 2.07 percent at 8.06 HK dollars after a tie-up deal between its parent firm Chinalco and Rio Tinto was scrapped. However, the Shanghai- listed shares of the company, which said it would continue to pursue overseas investment opportunities, gained 0.73 percent.

Shipping player China COSCO tumbled 4.33 percent at 10.6 HK dollars as the recent rally of Baltic Dry Index came to an end overnight. Blue-chip COSCO Pacific, however, bucked the industry index to rise 2.47 percent at 10.78 HK dollars.

HKEx, the only exchange operator in Hong Kong, edged up 0.08 percent, to close at 127.4 HK dollar. (7.8 HK dollars = 1 U.S. dollar)

Source: Xinhua