(Updates closing prices)

By Jiaxing Li

HONG KONG, March 6 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares rallied

to a fresh three-year high on Thursday, led by tech stocks, as

investors continued to pile into artificial intelligence shares

and welcomed new policy support.

Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index climbed 3.3% to

24,369.71, the highest since February 2022. The Hang Seng Tech

Index rallied 5.4% after briefly touching its firmest

since late 2021.

Market heavyweight Alibaba ( BABA ) surged 8.4% to its

strongest since late 2021, after the release of a new AI model

the company said was on par with global hit DeepSeek's R1.

Gains extended in the late afternoon session after a joint

press conference hosted by China's top officials from the

central bank, market regulators and others who pledged more

support for the economy and markets.

The onshore market also climbed on Thursday, with the

Shanghai Composite index up 1.2% and the blue-chip

CSI300 index gaining 1.4%.

Leading gains onshore, the chip sector subindex

surged 4% and the consumer staples sector climbed

1.9%.

Despite the moderate fiscal package announced at the

National People's Congress, China's annual parliamentary

meeting, the message of focusing on tech innovation and

consumption was especially encouraging and should help to

sustain the market's momentum, Morgan Stanley strategist Laura

Wang said in a note on Thursday.

"We remain positive on offshore equities and expect the

latest tariff hike to disrupt but not derail the market's

momentum."

Goldman Sachs raised its target price for emerging market

stocks on Thursday, projecting that the AI-powered rally in

Chinese equities could boost other markets as well.