Hong Kong Shares Tipped To Open Under Pressure On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Friday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 360 points or 1.8 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 20,090-point plateau, and the losses are likely to accelerate on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower in this holiday-shortened week, with technology stocks likely to be a key drag. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished barely lower on Friday following losses from the properties and mixed performances from the financials and technology stocks.

For the day, the index eased 7.84 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 20,090.46 after trading between 20,009.95 and 20,184.88.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group slumped 0.96 percent, while Alibaba Health Info tumbled 2.85 percent, ANTA Sports dropped 0.62 percent, China Life Insurance declined 1.08 percent, China Mengniu Dairy tanked 3.01 percent, China Resources Land shed 0.43 percent, CITIC gained 0.33 percent, CNOOC added 0.43 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical lost 0.42 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rose 0.30 percent, Haier Smart Home surrendered 2.34 percent, Hang Lung Properties sank 0.48 percent, Henderson Land spiked 0.85 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rallied 0.81 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.19 percent, JD.com plunged 3.55 percent, Lenovo skyrocketed 9.20 percent, Li Auto surged 6.13 percent, Li Ning retreated 1.31 percent, Meituan fell 0.26 percent, New World Development stumbled 2.42 percent, Nongfu Spring plummeted 4.11 percent, Xiaomi Corporation soared 4.27 percent, WuXi Biologics skidded 0.89 percent and Techtronic Industries was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower and remained that way throughout the trading day, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 333.59 point or 0.77 percent to finish at 42,992.21, while the NASDAQ slumped 298.37 points or 1.49 percent to close at 19.722.03 and the S&P 500 sank 66.75 points or 1.11 percent to end at 5,970.84.

For the week, the Dow picked up 1.4 percent, while the NASDAQ and the S&P both advanced 1.5 percent.

The numbers may have been a bit skewed by light volume, with many investors away from their desks on holiday between Christmas and New Year's.

On the economic front, data showed that U.S. retail inventories, excluding autos, increased by 0.6 percent on month in November, following an upwardly revised 0.3 percent rise in the prior month, according to preliminary estimates.

Oil prices climbed higher on Friday after data showed a sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine also supported prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled at $70.60 a barrel, gaining about 1.4 percent.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide November figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In October, imports were up 4.5 percent on month and exports rose 3.5 percent for a trade deficit of HKD31.0 billion.