** China's blue-chip CSI300 Index closed up 0.5%, while the Shanghai Composite Index jumped 0.7%.
** Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index advanced
1.6%, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index surged
2.1%.
** For the week, CSI 300 Index slid 0.2% and Hang
Seng Index rose 1.0%.
** Asian markets extended a risk rally on Wall Street to end
a tumultuous week that saw a brewing banking crisis send bond
yields plunging.
** Large U.S. banks on Thursday injected $30 billion in
deposits into First Republic Bank , swooping in to rescue
the lender.
** Foreign investors snapped up Chinese shares on Friday,
with the overseas net buying via the Stock Connect surpassing 7
billion yuan ($1 billion) and logging the biggest daily inflow
since early February. This week's overseas net buying totalled
nearly 15 billion yuan ($2.2 billion).
** China's CSI 300 Real Estate Index climbed
0.9% amid signs the country's property market is stabilising.
** "Post last week's less-encouraging NPC targets, investor
sentiment has started to recover as macro data for January and
February came in sanguine and confirmed that China's strong
growth rebound is on track," Morgan Stanley analysts said in a
note, adding that China's recovery is on track and intact.
** Hong Kong-listed shares of search engine giant Baidu surged 13.7%, recouping losses suffered a day earlier
after the launch of its artificial intelligence-powered Ernie
bot.
** Other tech and media stocks also rose. Information
technology companies soared 3.1% and anime comic
gaming firms surged 5.5%, while tech giants listed
in Hong Kong added 4.4%.
($1 = 6.8731 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and
Rashmi Aich)
