SHANGHAI: Hong Kong shares closed up on Thursday, led by a jump in energy shares as China raised retail prices of gasoline The Hang Seng index rose 0.3 per cent, to 23,374.40, while the China Enterprises Index gained 0.5 per cent, to 9,686.38 points.Most sectors were little changed, while energy shares climbed more than 2 per cent, lifted by sharp gains in Chinese oil giants CNOOC, Sinopec and PetroChina on the back of higher oil prices.China's state planning agency raised retail prices of gasoline starting Thursday after a rally in the international crude oil price, which hovered near a 15-month high.Investors were also taking stock of a slew of Chinese economic data released this week, including strong-than-expected loan growth in September, and third-quarter economic growth of 6.7 per cent, which was in line with expectations.Financials were stable after S&P Global Ratings said in a report on Thursday that the surge in credit by Chinese banks since early 2015 has supported the profitability of the country's banks, but it has also hit their capitalization, as well as the funding and liquidity profiles.

Source: Economic Times October 20, 2016 08:15 UTC