Hong Kong stocks rose 12.55 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 13,255.51 on Friday, on gains of mainland banks, but heavyweight HSBC extended its losses.
Turnover shrank to 47.07 billion HK dollars (6.05 billion U.S. dollars) from 49.38 billion HK dollars (6.4 billion U.S. dollars) on Thursday. The benchmark Hang Seng index was down 7.8 percent from its close on Friday last week.
Mainland counters outperformed the broader market, with the H- share index rising 1.5 percent as financial shares climbed after China's sovereign wealth fund said it was raising its stakes in the state-owned Bank of China, ICBC and China Construction Bank.
Bank of China jumped 4.6 percent to 2.04 dollars, ICBC rose 3.6 percent to 3.44, and China Construction Bank gained 3.7 percent to 3.91.
Investors also turned to utilities stocks. Hongkong Electric jumped 3.9 percent to 44.15 HK dollars, while Hong Kong and China Gas rose 0.8 percent to 12.24 HK dollars.
Gold stocks also outperformed the broader market, as investors viewed the sector as a safe haven amid the bearish market mood. Zhaojin Gold rose 6.5 percent to 5.74 HK dollars while Zijin Mining jumped 1.5 percent to 4.14 HK dollars.
Traders said the market may soon return to recent lows on the prospect of weak fourth-quarter results from U.S. firms and the overhang on HSBC. The Hang Seng index is likely to trade in the 13,000-14,000 range in the near term, they said.
"Weakness in HSBC is likely to persist," said Peter Lai, director at DBS Vickers. "I won't suggest investors buying HSBC until concerns over its potential fund-raising are settled," he said.
HSBC fell for the fifth day, ending down 2.7 percent at 64.20 HK dollars after Goldman Sachs cut the stock to sell from neutral and slashed its target to 49 HK dollars from 77 HK dollars. The stock dropped 14 percent this week. (One U.S. dollar = 7.751 HK dollars)
