SHANGHAI - Hong Kong stocks climbed on Thursday, as tech shares offset weak performances in banking and real estate sub-indexes, with the benchmark Hang Seng Index rising 0.2 percent.

The markets are lifted by a surge in tech shares, as investors brushed aside overnight losses on Wall Street after 40-year-high US inflation data fuels bets on faster US monetary policy tightening.

The Hang Seng Tech Index gained 1.7 percent.

But investors dumped banking and real estate stocks, as a growing number of homebuyers on the mainland refuse to pay mortgages of delayed projects until construction resumes.

Property shares fell sharply. Indices tracking developers listed in Hong Kong dropped more than 2 percent each.