China stocks post rare weekly rise after Fed rate cut

China stocks closed higher on Friday, logging their first weekly gain in a month, as the jumbo US rate cut strengthened bets Beijing will soon unveil fresh stimulus.

Hong Kong shares rose for the fifth day, posting the best week in five months, amid a broad rally in global equities.

China's blue-chip CSI300 index reversed early losses to end the session up 0.2 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite index also closed higher. Both indexes posted rare weekly gains - only the fourth in 19 weeks.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.4 per cent, bringing its weekly gain to 5.1 per cent, as the Federal Reserve kicked off its rate-cutting cycle on Wednesday with a bigger-than-expected 50-basis-point cut.

Hong Kong stocks are more sensitive to US rates than shares in China, where regulators impose strict capital controls.

In China, sectors that benefit from lower rates - including real estate and tech rose. Banking shares also gained on China's Friday inaction on benchmark loan rates. Lower lending rates hurt banks' profitability.

The Fed starting to cut rates is good news for Chinese assets, but "whether the A-share market can stabilise is mainly determined by economic fundamentals," China International Capital Corp cautioned in a note.

Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.62 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 1.53 per cent.

China's CSI financial sector sub-index was higher by 0.48 per cent, the consumer staples sector down 0.1 per cent, the real estate index up 1.37 per cent and the healthcare sub-index down 1.14 per cent.

The smaller Shenzhen index ended down 0.16 per cent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.639 per cent.

In Hong Kong, the sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares rose 1.3 per cent, while the IT sector rose 0.37 per cent, the financial sector ended 1.27 per cent higher and the property sector rose 1.72 per cent.