HONG KONG, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong stocks advanced 249.01 points, or 1.51 percent to close at 16,790.7 on Friday.

    Boosted by overnight rally on Wall Street, the benchmark Hang Seng Index opened higher in the morning and fluctuated in the positive territory throughout the trading.

    The bounce of Hong Kong stocks was believed to have mitigated losses in previous sessions this week, when share prices tumbled after robust gains in seven consecutive days.

    The day high was 16,953.41 and the day low stood at 16,736.18.

    Turnover shriveled to 58.06 billion HK dollars (7.50 billion U.S. dollars), from Thursday's 63.65 billion HK dollars (8.22 billion U.S. dollars).

    Index heavyweight HSBC outperformed by rising 3.1 percent to 64. 3 HK dollars and the sole market operator HKEx was up 1.7 percent to 103.7 HK dollars.

    Hong Kong-listed Chinese financial companies all registered increase in share prices. The country's biggest lender ICBC surged3.6 percent to 4.65 HK dollars; China Construction Bank (CCB), which has been under close scrutinize among investors after the Bank of America sold large numbers of CCB shares, rose 1.9 percent to 4.79 HK dollars. Insurer Ping An advanced 1.6 percent to 49.35 HK dollars and its arch rival China Life was up 0.9 percent to 27.55 HK dollars.

    Oil-related stocks were all higher, with Sinopec up 1.0 percent to 8.09 HK dollars, CNOOC up 2.0 percent to 9.98 HK dollars and ChinaPetrol up 1.7 percent to 6.1 HK dollars.

    Local property stocks grabbed a fair share of Friday's market rally. Cheung Kong, the business conglomerate headed by Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka-shing, closed 1.4 percent higher at 83.15 HK dollars, while SHK Properties, the leading residential developer in Hong Kong, gained 1.3 percent to 81.6 HK dollars.

    Despite price rise in most blue chips, market observers believe downward pressure still hangs over the market, citing falling investment figures in the Chinese mainland and sharp deterioration of GDP in the first quarter in Hong Kong.

    China's Ministry of Commerce announced Friday that the amount of direct foreign direct investment into China fell 21 percent year on year in the first four months, signaling that a recovery isn't yet firmly in place in the world third largest economy.

    The Hong Kong SAR government said it would downgrade annual growth estimation for 2009 as exports and unemployment continue to worsen in the Asian financial hub. (7.743 HK dollars = 1 U.S. dollar)

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis