No Relief Yet For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, tumbling more than 650 points or 3.2 percent in that span. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 19,420-point plateau and it's likely to open in the red again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly soft ahead of key U.S. employment data later today. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index dropped 96.51 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 19,420.87 after trading between 19,369.06 and 19,650.16.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group plunged 2.10 percent, while Alibaba Health Info was up 0.19 percent, ANTA Sports dropped 0.80 percent, China Life Insurance spiked 1.20 percent, China Mengniu Dairy gained 0.73 percent, China Resources Land jumped 1.15 percent, CITIC skidded 1.07 percent, CNOOC tumbled 1.62 percent, Country Garden plummeted 2.52 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical added 0.32 percent, Galaxy Entertainment climbed 1.00 percent, Hang Lung Properties perked 0.18 percent, Henderson Land shed 0.43 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas fell 0.31 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China sank 0.54 percent, JD.com retreated 1.57 percent, Lenovo rose 0.23 percent, Li Ning slumped 1.13 percent, Meituan lost 0.36 percent, New World Development declined 1.19 percent, Techtronic Industries surged 4.19 percent, Xiaomi Corporation advanced 0.84 percent, WuXi Biologics soared 3.42 percent and Haier Smart Home was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages opened lower on Thursday, rallied midday but sank back into the red heading into the close.

The Dow shed 66.63 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 35,215.89, while the NASDAQ dipped 13.73 points or 0.10 percent to close at 13,858.71 and the S&P 500 fell 11.50 points or 0.25 percent to end at 4,501.89.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected continued concerns about U.S. debt after credit rating agency Fitch Ratings unexpectedly downgraded the United States' credit rating earlier this week.

Selling pressure remained somewhat subdued, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report later today.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department noted a modest increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week. Also, the Institute for Supply Management reported a modest slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. service sector activity in July.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Thursday after Saudi Arabia announced that it would extend its production cut to next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September climbed $2.06 or 2.6 percent at $81.66 a barrel.