Hong Kong stocks close 0.5 pct higher Thursday

Hong Kong stocks rose 101.53 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 20,440.08 points on Thursday.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded between 20,713.34 and 20,375.40. Turnover totaled 69.90 billion HK dollars (about 9.01 billion U.S. dollars).