Hong Kong stocks closed higher on Friday along with other major Asia-Pacific markets on optimism the US Federal Reserve could cut rates sooner than anticipated, while ignoring the noise surrounding US-China tariff talks.

The Hang Seng Index advanced 0.3%, while the Hang Seng Tech Index added 0.1%.

Among star stocks, NIO and Baidu rose 4%; BYD, Alibaba, and Tencent rose 2%; while Xiaomi fell 1%; XPeng fell 2%; SMIC fell 3%.

Fed governor Christopher Waller and Cleveland Fed president Beth Hammack both said separately that the US central bank could lower rates as early as June if the high tariff levels hurt the economy and weigh on the job market.

China on Thursday dismissed claims of progress on bilateral trade talks as “fake news” after US President Donald Trump asserted that Washington had been in contact with officials from Beijing. Trump indicated this week that he would be willing to reconsider the high tariffs he has levied on Chinese goods.

Baidu Inc. unveiled upgrades to its flagship AI models and slashed their prices as it looks to take on rivals like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and DeepSeek in China’s increasingly competitive artificial intelligence market.

The Chinese search engine leader rolled out Ernie 4.5 Turbo and Ernie X1 Turbo, the latest versions of its flagship foundation and reasoning models that it said are faster and cheaper than previous iterations.