Hong Kong’s surging stock market broke through the pyschological threshold of 30,000 on the Hang Seng benchmark index on Friday, boosted by expectations of a cut in US interest rates.

The index hit a lifetime high of 30,562.63 before slipping back to end the day 1.8 per cent higher at 30,405.22. That still represented a rise of 49.1 per cent since the worst day of the credit turmoil in August and a 52.3 per cent gain since the beginning of the year.