Hang Seng Tipped To End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, dropping almost 280 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 16,510-point plateau although it's due for support on Friday.

The global forecast is upbeat on encouraging inflation data from the United States. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished slightly lower on Thursday following weakness from the financials and mixed performances from the properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index dipped 25.41 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 16,511.44 after trading between 16,429.57 and 16,695.36.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group declined 1.82 percent, while Alibaba Health Info advanced 0.88 percent, ANTA Sports soared 2.81 percent, CK Infrastructure plummeted 2.85 percent, China Life Insurance slumped 0.82 percent, China Mengniu Dairy and Li Ning both rose 0.41 percent, China Resources Land sank 0.62 percent, CITIC fell 0.38 percent, CNOOC tanked 2.19 percent, Country Garden spiked 1.87 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical was up 0.33 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rallied 1.66 percent, Haier Smart Home gained 0.42 percent, Henderson Land retreated 1.95 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dropped 0.66 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 0.49 percent, JD.com plunged 2.36 percent, Lenovo added 0.58 percent, Meituan jumped 1.85 percent, New World Development tumbled 2.08 percent, Techtronic Industries improved 0.83 percent, Xiaomi Corporation climbed 1.07 percent, WuXi Biologics surged 3.14 percent and Hang Lung Properties and China Resources Mixc Lifestyle Services were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher but quickly faded before later accelerating into the green to end near session highs.

The Dow added 47.37 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 38,996.39, while the NASDAQ jumped 144.18 points or 0.90 percent to end at 16,091.92 and the S&P 500 gained 26.51 points or 0.52 percent to close at 5,096.27.

The strength on Wall Street followed the release of a highly anticipated Commerce Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with estimates in January.

The inflation readings are said to be favored by the Federal Reserve, and the data generated some optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

In other U.S. economic news, the Labor Department noted a bigger than expected increase in weekly jobless claims, while the National Association of Realtors unexpectedly saw a sharp pullback by pending home sales in January.

Oil futures settled lower on Thursday as concerns about reduced fuel demand outweighing hopes for the likely extension of production cuts by OPEC. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April fell $0.28 or 0.4 percent at $78.26 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will release January figures for retail sales later today; in December, sales were up 7.8 percent on year.