HONG KONG: The Hong Kong stock market fell slightly on Friday, amid thin trade, ahead of the release of U.S. non-farm payrolls data, which could stoke or temper market expectations about an aggressive policy easing by the Federal Reserve. At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down by less than 0.1% at 28,774.83, and up 0.8% week-on-week. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index, which fell 0.2% on the day, posted weekly gains of 0.1%. The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares was flat, the IT sector lost 0.2%, the financial sector ended almost 0.1% lower and the property sector rose 0.3%. Asian shares hovered near two-month highs on Friday as investors braced for U.S. employment data.
