Rebound Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market headed south again on Friday, one day after ending the seven-day losing streak in which it had plummeted more than 920 points or 5.6 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 16,250-point plateau although it may inch higher on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement and uncertainty thanks to the ongoing hostilities in the Middle East. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index sank 57.46 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 16,244.58 after trading between 16,185.91 and 16,393.74.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group shed 0.42 percent, while Alibaba Health Info skidded 0.81 percent, ANTA Sports advanced 0.96 percent, China Life Insurance gained 0.22 percent, China Mengniu Dairy added 0.52 percent, China Resources Land tanked 2.11 percent, CITIC improved 0.80 percent, CNOOC jumped 1.82 percent, Country Garden plummeted 3.09 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical climbed 1.08 percent, Galaxy Entertainment slumped 0.98 percent, Henderson Land increased 0.44 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rose 0.17 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.27 percent, JD.com retreated 1.60 percent, Lenovo fell 0.19 percent, Li Ning rallied 1.12 percent, Meituan sank 0.46 percent, New World Development tumbled 1.94 percent, Techtronic Industries dropped 0.80 percent, Xiaomi Corporation declined 1.24 percent, WuXi Biologics plunged 3.12 percent and Hang Lung Properties was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is of little help as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but then hugged both sides of the line for the rest of the session, ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow sank 118.04 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 37,592.98, while the NASDAQ rose 2.58 points or 0.02 percent to close at 14,972.76 and the S&P 500 perked 3.59 points or 0.08 percent to end at 4,783.83. For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 3.1 percent, the S&P added 1.8 percent and the Dow rose 0.3 percent.

The Dow was weighed by earnings news from the likes of UnitedHealth (UNH), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM).

Traders were also reacting to a Labor Department report showing U.S. producer prices unexpectedly edged lower in December, adding to recent uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.

Oil futures settled notably higher on Friday as an escalation in tensions in the Middle East raised concerns about delay in supplies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended higher by $0.66 or 0.9 percent at $72.68 a barrel. For the week, the contract shed about 1.1 percent.