Hang Seng Poised To Bounce Higher Again On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market headed south again on Thursday, one day after snapping the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 220 points or 1.1 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 19,600-point plateau although it's overdue for support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed, with bargain hunting likely to offset concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financials, casinos, technology stocks and oil companies, while the properties were mixed.

For the day, the index plunged 357.08 points or 1.79 percent to finish at 19,597.31 after trading between 19,532.86 and 19,839.51.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group stumbled 2.23 percent, while Alibaba Health Info tanked 3.08 percent, ANTA Sports surrendered 2.90 percent, China Life Insurance fell 0.71 percent, China Mengniu Dairy crashed 2.95 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) slumped 1.89 percent, China Resources Land rose 0.31 percent, CITIC sank 0.99 percent, CNOOC dipped 0.56 percent, Country Garden jumped 1.41 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical added 0.63 percent, Galaxy Entertainment retreated 2.49 percent, Hang Lung Properties gained 0.61 percent, Henderson Land was down 0.38 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas skidded 1.44 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.75 percent, JD.com lost 0.73 percent, Lenovo dropped 0.92 percent, Li Ning plunged 3.47 percent, Longfor tumbled 2.73 percent, Meituan plummeted 5.85 percent, New World Development and Xiaomi Corporation both weakened 1.56 percent, Techtronic Industries slid 0.64 percent and WuXi Biologics declined 2.51 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed as the major averages opened lower on Thursday but a late-day rally pushed the Down and S&P 500 into the green at the close.

The Dow added 145.99 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 31,656.42, while the NASDAQ slipped 31.08 points or 0.26 percent to end at 11,785.13 and the S&P 500 rose 11.85 points or 0.30 percent to close at 3,966.85.

Bargain hunting contributed to the rebound on Wall Street, with traders picking up stocks at reduced levels after the major averages once again fell to their lowest levels in over a month.

The early selloff on Wall Street also came as the latest labor and manufacturing data was seen as confirming the Federal Reserve's stance that it can remain aggressive with the tightening of policy.

With the more closely watched monthly jobs report looming later today, the Labor Department this morning unexpectedly reported a modest decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Oil futures ended sharply lower Thursday on rising concerns about the outlook for energy demand and worries that aggressive rate hikes by major central banks may lead to a global economic slowdown. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $2.94 or 3.3 percent at $86.61 a barrel.