Hong Kong stocks on Thursday gained 112.6 points, or 0.51 percent, to close at 21,999.08, the fresh high since the beginning of the year.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index tracked overnight gains on Wall Street to open above the 22,000 mark, but pared its gains in the afternoon to close slightly below the 22,000, with market heavyweight HSBC and the mainland banks leading the gains.

Turnover expanded to 79.95 billion HK dollars (10.25 billion U. S. dollars), compared with 64.56 billion HK dollars (8.28 billion U.S. dollars) on Thursday.

Three of the four major sub-indexes gained, with finance advancing 0.88 percent, utilities advancing 0.19 percent, and the commerce and industry, 0.29 percent. Properties shed 0.4 percent, making them the only losing category.