AFP, HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks posted their highest ever close yesterday, boosted by a flood of cash from mainland Chinese investors and a worldwide surge in optimism about the global economy.

The Hang Seng Index leapt 1.81 per cent, or 565.88 points, to close at 31,904.75 — its best finish since October 30, 2007.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.77 per cent, or 26.10 points, to 3,436.59 and the Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China’s second exchange, gained 0.72 per cent, or 13.79 points, to 1,927.56.

The HSI is now within spitting distance of its all-time record of 31,958.41 and analysts widely expect it to break that barrier soon as markets across the planet rally on economic optimism, and hopes for strong corporate profits following Donald Trump’s huge tax cuts last month.

Spurred on by successive records on Wall Street, the financial hub’s market surged more than a third in 2017 and has started the new year in blistering form, having risen a record 14 straight days until a small loss on Monday. Everbright Sun Hung Kai analyst Kenny Wen said he saw the HSI breaking 34,000 by the end of the year thanks to a weaker US dollar and expectations for better company earnings.

He also pointed to increasing interest from mainland investors—using a cross-border stock connect programme—who have been attracted by relatively cheap valuations compared with markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

And despite the latest surge Raymond Cheng, Hong Kong-based head of Asia equity strategy at JPMorgan’s private bank unit, said the gains were to be expected.

“Look at the overall scheme of things: we have had how many years of downtrend? Almost eight or nine years,” he told Bloomberg News. “Yes, last year we had a big rally, but it’s well-justified in my mind by the earnings pick-up.”

The market has had a rollercoaster ride since its 2007 peak, which was followed by a plunge of 67 per cent within a year and a half as it was hammered by the global economic crisis.

It then saw gradual recoveries hit in 2011 by the European debt crisis and then the collapse of the Chinese equity bubble in 2015.