HK blue chips end at record close above 30,000

Hong Kong blue chips jumped 1.8 percent on Friday as investors snapped up shares of the city's real estate developers amid growing expectations of a U.S. rate cut by the Federal Reserve, which meets next week. The benchmark Hang Seng Index <.hsi> ended at 30,405.22. The China Enterprises index of H-shares <.hsce>, or Hong Kong-listed shares in mainland companies, closed at 19,548.49, nearly unchanged from Thursday. The Hang Seng properties sub-index <.hsnp> leapt 5 percent.