More Profit Taking Likely For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Friday snapped the three-day winning streak in which it had skyrocketed almost 1,450 points or 7.8 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 18,675-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild downside on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are likely to follow suit.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Friday as losses from the oil companies. financials and properties were mitigated by support from the technology stocks.

For the day, the index fell 61.05 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 18,675.35 after trading between 18,530.82 and 18,841.22.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group soared 2.42 percent, while Alibaba Health Info skyrocketed 9.68 percent, ANTA Sports added 0.16 percent, China Life Insurance lost 0.34 percent, China Mengniu Dairy stumbled 1.56 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) shed 0.56 percent, China Resources Land shed 0.88 percent, CITIC tanked 3.95 percent, CNOOC skidded 1.29 percent, Country Garden plummeted 4.49 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical sank 0.98 percent, Galaxy Entertainment advanced 0.31 percent, Hang Lung Properties tumbled 3.88 percent, Henderson Land retreated 2.03 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dropped 1.19 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China declined 2.30 percent, JD.com perked 0.09 percent, Lenovo slumped 1.41 percent, Li Ning fell 0.32 percent, Longfor plunged 4.31 percent, Meituan surged 3.07 percent, New World Development rallied 0.77 percent, Techtronic Industries climbed 0.62 percent, Xiaomi Corporation surrendered 3.25 percent and WuXi Biologics spiked 2.27 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday but improved all session, finally ending mixed but little changed.

The Dow rose 34.87 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 34,429.88, while the NASDAQ slipped 20.95 points or 0.18 percent to close at 11,461.50 and the S&P 500 fell 4.87 points or 0.12 percent to end at 4,071.70.

The early weakness on Wall Street followed the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report, which showed stronger than expected job growth in November.

While the report points to continued strength in the labor market, the data has added to lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.

The Federal Reserve is likely to slow the pace of interest rate hikes as early as next month, but continued labor market tightness may still lead the central bank to raise rates higher than currently anticipated.

Crude oil futures slumped on Friday ahead of OPEC's meeting over the weekend and the European Unio's cap of Russian crude. West Texas Intermediate shed 1.24 per 1,5 percent to $79.98 per barrel.