LONDON (CNNfn) - Hong Kong's blue-chip share index rallied for the third straight session Friday to close up more than 2 percent, while banking and telecom shares pulled Tokyo to a narrow loss.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 ended down 20.4 points, or 0.1 percent, at 16,318.31 after spending most of the session in the black. The index closed down 3.3 percent from its level of a week earlier.
 In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng surged in the last hour of trade to advance 354 points, or 2.2 percent, at 16,434.38, with telecom and property shares posting the firmest gains, while bank stocks weakened.
Singapore's Straits Times ended 1.15 percent lower at 2,012.20, while in Seoul the Kospi index closed down 1.54 percent at 759.04 to close the week some 9 percent lower.
Tech stocks advanced on U.S. markets Thursday, helping the Dow Jones industrial average to a modest 0.25 percent gain, while the Nasdaq composite rose 1.3 percent.
In the currency markets Friday, the dollar traded at ¥106.40 in Tokyo, little changed from ¥106.46 in late trading in New York the previous day. The euro eased to $0.9520 from $0.9547 in New York.
 In Tokyo, mobile-phone operator NTT DoCoMo closed down 1 percent, countering gains by electronics firms in the wake of the Nasdaq's advance. Sony added 1.2 percent and Hitachi gained 2.5 percent.
Banks were mixed, with Asahi Bank losing 2.5 percent, a day after pulling out of its planned three-way merger with Sanwa Bank and Tokai Bank. Sanwa shares gained more than 3 percent while Tokai posted a narrow gain.
The main driver of the Hong Kong market continued to be China Telecom, which closed up 3.5 percent as investors poured back into the Hang Seng's largest component.
Friday's gain took the market's advance on the week to almost 2 percent. Property-based conglomerate Cheung Kong (Holdings) gained 3.9 percent Friday, buoyed by government plans to help the weak residential housing market by limiting the supply of new homes.
Sino Land surged 13 percent on the news, while SHK gained more than 7 percent.
Sydney's S&P/ASX200 index added 0.25 percent to finish the session at 3,140.9 while Manila's PHS Composite closed 0.3 percent higher at 1,569.95. Taiwan's Weighted index ended fractionally lower at 8,832.15.
The Set 50 in Bangkok ended 0.2 percent lower at 344.49 and the JSX index in Jakarta rose 1.4 percent to close at 482.55. Kuala Lumpur's KLSE Composite was the weakest in the region, down 3 percent at 835.93. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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