Renewed Selling Pressure Expected For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the three-day losing streak in which it had given up more than 820 points or 3.4 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 23,530-point plateau, although it's likely to turn lower again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative thanks to U.S. involvement in the Israel/Iran conflict. The European and U.S. markets were mixed but the Asian markets figure to open under water.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index rallied 292.78 points or 1.26 percent to finish at 23,530.48 after trading between 23,291.40 and 23,538.63.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group rallied 1.55 percent, while Alibaba Health Info and Meituan both gained 0.23 percent, ANTA Sports was up 0.05 percent, China Life Insurance soared 4.74 percent, China Mengniu Dairy advanced 0.87 percent, China Resources Land lost 0.37 percent, CITIC improved 0.73 percent, CNOOC shed 0.67 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical gathered 0.13 percent, Haier Smart Home expanded 1.11 percent, Hang Lung Properties jumped 1.50 percent, Henderson Land strengthened 1.31 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rose 0.15 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China spiked 2.82 percent, JD.com increased 0.72 percent, Lenovo climbed 0.89 percent, Li Auto perked 0.10 percent, Li Ning surged 4.80 percent, New World Development skyrocketed 5.37 percent, Nongfu Spring added 0.26 percent, Techtronic Industries sank 0.76 percent, Xiaomi Corporation accelerated 1.89 percent and WuXi Biologics, Galaxy Entertainment and Hengan International were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains murky as the major averages opened higher on but quickly fell under water, finally finishing mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 35.16 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 42,206.82, while the NASDAQ dropped 98.86 points or 0.51 percent to close at 19,447.41 and the S&P 500 sank 13.03 points or 0.22 percent to end at 5,967.84.

The positive boost to kick off trade on Wall Street came after the White House said President Donald Trump sees a "substantial chance of negotiations" and would decide within two weeks whether to authorize a direct U.S. military strike on Iran.

Of course, on Saturday the United States bombed three sites in Iran that are suspected nuclear development areas. The fallout from those attacks remains uncertain.

On the economic front, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said on Friday that regional manufacturing activity remained weak in June. The Philly Fed said its diffusion index for current general activity was unchanged in June after jumping to a negative 4.0 in May, with a negative reading indicating contraction. Economists had expected the index to rise to a negative 1.0.

Crude oil price slipped on Friday as concerns of U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict faded, even as the fighting between the two nations intensified. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery closed down by $0.21 to $74.93 per barrel.