Win Streak May End For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, climbing almost 480 points or 2.5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 19,550-point plateau although it's likely to open under water on Monday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with profit taking likely to cap any upside. The European markets were soft and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financials, properties and energy companies, while the technology shares were mixed.

For the day, the index jumped 177.11 points or 0.91 percent to finish at 19,553.61 after trading between 19,342.96 and 19,602.24.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group surged 7.53 percent, while Alibaba Health Info rallied 2.19 percent, ANTA Sports retreated 1.11 percent, China Life Insurance soared 5.01 percent, China Mengniu Dairy fell 0.12 percent, China Resources Land accelerated 2.98 percent, CITIC added 0.83 percent, CNOOC rose 0.21 percent, Country Garden skyrocketed 9.82 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical slumped 1.05 percent, Galaxy Entertainment jumped 1.92 percent, Hang Lung Properties improved 1.23 percent, Henderson Land climbed 1.34 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dropped 0.93 percent, JD.com advanced 1.28 percent, Lenovo tumbled 1.35 percent, Li Ning strengthened 1.38 percent, Meituan sank 0.48 percent, New World Development spiked 3.39 percent, Techtronic Industries increased 0.94 percent, Xiaomi Corporation gained 0.61 percent, WuXi Biologics plummeted 3.43 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Hengan International were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed and fairly flat and finished much the same.

The Dow climbed 134.19 points or 0.34 percent to finish at a record 40,003.59, while the NASDAQ slipped 12.33 points or 0.07 percent to close at 16,685.97 and the S&P 500 rose 6.17 points or 0.12 percent to end at 5,303.27.

For the week, the NASDAQ surged 2.1 percent, while the S&P 500 jumped 1.5 percent and the Dow shot up 1.2 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as they digest recent strength in the markets, which saw the major averages reach new record highs.

In economic news, the Conference Board noted a continued decrease by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators in the month of April.

Oil prices rose on Friday amid easing inflation, data showing a drop in inventories, and hopes of interest rate cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June climbed to $80.06 a barrel, gaining $0.79 or more than 1 percent. WTI crude futures gained 2.3 percent in the week.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will see unemployment figures for April later today, with the jobless rate expected to hold steady at 3.0 percent.