HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks inched up on Friday to post their fourth consecutive week of gains, helped by a robust rally in resources and financial firms.

The strength on Wall Street also boosted risk appetite, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up to a seventh straight record high on Thursday.

The Hang Seng index rose 0.1 percent, to 27,562.68 points, while the China Enterprises Index was unchanged at 11,003.08 points.

For the week, HSI gained 2.2 percent, while HSCE added 2.3 percent, largely led by strong gains in material and financial firms.

The heavyweight financial sector rose 2.7 percent for the week.

The material sector advanced 4.7 percent in the week, powered by dual-listed mainland firms whose earnings benefited from China’s continued supply-side reforms to cut excessive capacity.

State-run Aluminum Corp of China, the country’s largest aluminium producer, has gained 6.3 percent for the week and surged nearly 60 percent in 2017 amid China’s crackdown on its bloated aluminium industry.

Hong Kong’s rally could be attributed in part to strong southbound inflows via the stock connects linking Hong Kong and the mainland, traders said.

Mainland investors in particular prefer big names that are familiar to them, including dual-listed state-owned sector leaders like China Merchant Bank, and online gaming giant Tencent Holdings.—Reuters