SHANGHAI Chinese stocks ended higher on Friday (June 9), buoyed by optimism about policy support for the automobile and technology sectors, even as disappointing inflation data weighed on investor sentiment. Hong Kong shares followed Asian markets higher.

The blue-chip CSI 300 Index rose 0.4%, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.6%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.5%, as Asia-Pacific equities rose to their highest level since mid-February, following an overnight Wall Street rally.

China's factory gate prices fell at the fastest pace in seven years in May and quicker than forecasts, as faltering demand weighed on a slowing manufacturing sector, and cast a cloud over the fragile economic recovery. Consumer prices rose less than expected.

"Investor concerns over a macro recovery slowdown are still mounting," Morgan Stanley said in a note to clients.

"With the earnings stabilisation outlook and the geopolitical development, we do not believe that it makes sense to turn even more bearish on China now," the bank said, pointing to signs of a thaw in Sino-US ties.

Shanghai's tech-heavy STAR market jumped 2.5%, after China's securities regulators vowed to support technology self-independence with fresh capital market policies.

An index tracking China's automobile shares rose more than 2% - the biggest one-day gain in a month - after China's Commerce Ministry announced a campaign to promote car sales that will last from June to December.

But China's banking shares fell amid rising expectations of an imminent cut in lending rates that threaten to erode lenders' profit margins.

Shares in Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co Ltd slumped as much as 9.1% to a six-month low, after news that Britain would remove Chinese-made surveillance equipment from sensitive government sites.

  - Reuters