Hong Kong Shares May Head South Again On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market bounced higher again on Thursday, one session after ending the three-day winning streak in which it had rallied almost 800 points or 4.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 19,375-point plateau although it's likely to open under water on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation, largely on profit taking following recent gains. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and properties, and a mixed bag from the technology stocks.

For the day, the index jumped 302.82 points or 1.59 percent to finish at 19,376.53 after trading between 19,114.38 and 19,442.90.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group tumbled 3.57 percent, while ANTA Sports gained0.50 percent, China Life Insurance surged 6.36 percent, China Resources Land jumped 3.57 percent, CITIC climbed 2.66 percent, CNOOC slumped 1.13 percent, Country Garden soared 5.79 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical sank 0.59 percent, Galaxy Entertainment skyrocketed 6.39 percent, Hang Lung Properties increased 1.63 percent, Henderson Land accelerated 4.82 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas improved 1.73 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China spiked 5.37 percent, JD.com advanced 2.56 percent, Lenovo added 1.17 percent, Li Ning rose 0.46 percent, Meituan strengthened 3.04 percent, New World Development rallied 3.62 percent, Techtronic Industries plummeted 5.37 percent, Xiaomi Corporation dropped 0.80 percent, WuXi Biologics gathered 0.41 percent and Alibaba Health Info and China Mengniu Dairy were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up soft as the major averages spent most of Thursday in the green before a late wave of profit taking nudged them under water.

The Dow shed 38.62 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 39,869.38, while the NASDAQ sank 44.07 points or 0.26 percent to close at 16,698.32 and the S&P dipped 11.05 points or 0.21 percent to end at 5,297.10.

The early strength on Wall Street reflected an extension of the rally seen during Wednesday's session, which came amid optimism about the outlook for interest rates following tamer-than-expected consumer price inflation data.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, with traders pausing to lock in recent gains.

In economic news, the Labor Department noted a pullback by initial jobless claims last week. Also, a separate Labor Department report showed U.S. import prices jumped more than expected in April, and industrial production came in flat last month.

Oil prices advanced on Thursday, continuing to benefit from recent data showing a larger than expected decline in crude inventories in the U.S. last week. Hopes of an interest rate cut in September contributed as well to the rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.60 at $79.23 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide Q1 data for gross domestic product later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 2.3 percent on quarter and 2.7 percent on year. That follows the 0.4 percent quarterly increase and the 4.3 percent yearly gain in the three months prior.