Hong Kong stocks rose to a fresh peak on Thursday, led by telecommunications and financial firms. The China Enterprises index HSCE, which tracks major Chinese firm listed in Hong Kong, extended gains after data showed China's Q4 economic growth beats expectations.

China's economy grew 6.8 per cent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, helped by a rebound in the industrial sector, a resilient property market and strong export growth. "China's growth is very healthy," said Iris Pang, Greater China Economist, ING, Hong Kong.

At close of trade, the Hang Seng index was up 138.53 points or 0.43 per cent at 32,121.94. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index rose 1.76 per cent to 13,094.92.

The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares rose 0.1 per cent while the IT sector dipped 0.48 per cent, the financial sector was 1.02 per cent higher and property sector dipped 0.82 per cent .

The top gainer on Hang Seng was Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd up 3.6 per cent, while the biggest loser was Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd, down 4.08 per cent.

China's main Shanghai Composite index closed up 0.91 per cent at 3,475.9148 points while its blue-chip CSI300 index ended up 0.58 per cent.

Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.21 per cent while Japan's Nikkei index closed down 0.44 per cent.

The yuan was quoted at 6.428 per U.S. dollar at 08:09 GMT, 0.09 per cent firmer than the previous close of 6.4335.

So far this year, the Hang Seng index is up 6.9 per cent, while China's H-share index is up 9.9 per cent. As of the previous close, the Hang Seng has risen 6.9 per cent this month.

The top gainers among H-shares were China Citic Bank Corp Ltd up 5.71 per cent, followed by Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd gaining 5.63 per cent and China Communications Construction Co Ltd up by 4.17 per cent.

The three biggest H-shares per centage decliners were Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd which was down 2.76 per cent, Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric Co Ltd which fell 2.7 per cent and Byd Co Ltd down by 2.3 per cent.

About 3.86 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded, roughly 198.7 per cent of the market's 30-day moving average of 1.94 billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 4.12 billion.

At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 28.53 per cent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.

The price-to-earnings ratio of the Hang Seng index was 14.58 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 2.7 per cent.

So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Hang Seng index has risen by 1.67 per cent to HK$20.96 trillion.

The short and one-factor leveraged Hang Seng index, which is designed to replicate the payoff of a short or leveraged portfolio and is linked to the movements of the Hang Seng Index, was lower by 0.43 per cent on the day at 4,593.09 points.