HK shares jumpstart year with 4.6 pct gain

* China telcos gain on 3G licence hopes; China Mobile lags

* Telco equipment makers soar on expected 3G spending

* Resources stocks rally on higher oil prices

(Updates to close)

By Parvathy Ullatil

HONG KONG, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares kicked off 2009 on a firm note, rising 4.6 percent to a two-week high on Friday amid thin volumes, led by strong gains in Chinese telecom companies on hopes of the imminent issuance of 3G licences.

Stocks across the board notched up strong gains on hopes that the flow of bad news that pushed Hong Kong's blue chip index to its worst drop in over three decades last year would subside in the new year while attractive valuations would tempt investors back into the equity market.

"There is a lot of hope that when (U.S. President-elect Barack) Obama steps in in a few weeks he will immediately announce a whole lot of new measures to help the economy," said Patrick Yiu, associate director with CASH Asset Management.

Resources stocks climbed on an year-end rally in oil prices, with Asia's top oil and gas producer PetroChina (0857.HK) gaining 6 percent while offshore oil producer CNOOC (0883.HK) rose 4.8 percent.

Oil CLc1 pulled back in Asian trade Friday, but the retreat followed a 14 percent surge in crude prices on Wednesday.

The Hang Seng Index .HSI finished 655.33 points higher at 15,042.81 after opening up 0.4 percent.

The index rose more than 6 percent this week, helped in part by year-end window dressing in the last week of December.

Turnover stayed slim at HK$30.5 billion ($3.9 billion) with many market participants still away on holidays.

"The investors that are around have already started buying up the good quality stocks and we should see more investors back next week as some of the other Asian markets open up for business," said CASH's Yiu.

Yiu expects the main index to creep up to 15,400-15,500 points in the next few sessions as turnover rebounds, but said weak January economic data could beat down the market again in February.

The China Enterprises Index of top locally listed mainland Chinese firms .HSCE had risen 5.4 percent to 8,314.11.