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 .HSI climbed 3.3% to 24,369.71, the highest since February 2022. The Hang Seng Tech Index .HSTECH rallied 5.4% after briefly touching its firmest since late 2021.

Market heavyweight Alibaba 9988.HK 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 .SSEC up 1.2% and the blue-chip CSI300 index .CSI300 gaining 1.4%.

Leading gains onshore, the chip sector subindex .CSI931865 surged 4% and the consumer staples sector .CSI000912 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.

(Reporting by Jiaxing Li in Hong Kong; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Jacqueline Wong)

((jiaxing.li@thomsonreuters.com +852 63358304))