Hong Kong Shares May Head South Again On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Friday snapped the two-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 700 points or 4 percent to a fresh 11-year closing low. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 17,220-point plateau although it may see renewed selling pressure on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on recession fears and the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the oversold Asian bourses figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Friday following mild gains from the property and oil companies, while the technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index gained 56.96 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 17,222.83 after trading between 17,016.28 and 17,344.81.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group advanced 1.43 percent, while Alibaba Health Info slumped 0.83 percent, ANTA Sports plunged 4.26 percent, China Life Insurance collected 2.34 percent, China Mengniu Dairy and CK Infrastructure both gathered 1.14 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) spiked 2.43 percent, China Resources Land strengthened 1.98 percent, CITIC climbed 1.79 percent, CNOOC increased 1.18 percent, Country Garden lost 0.52 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical surged 3.05 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rallied 2.32 percent, Hang Lung Properties gained 0.62 percent, Henderson Land perked 0.23 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rose 0.58 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China soared 2.79 percent, JD.com tumbled 1.68 percent, Lenovo jumped 2.06 percent, Li Ning plummeted 6.39 percent, Longfor skidded 1.10 percent, Meituan tanked 2.70 percent, New World Development improved 1.36 percent, Techtronic Industries was up 0.13 percent, Xiaomi Corporation added 0.90 percent and WuXi Biologics sank 0.63 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages hugged the line through the first half of Friday's trade but headed firmly south in the afternoon, closing near daily lows.

The Dow plummeted 500.09 points or 1.71 percent to finish at 28,725.51, while the NASDAQ tumbled 161.88 points or 1.51 percent to close at 10.575.62 and the S&P 500 dropped 54.85 points or 1.51 percent to end at 3,585.62.

For the week, the NASDAQ dove 2.7 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 both plunged 2.9 percent. The major averages also posted steep losses for the month and the quarter.

The extended sell-off on Wall Street reflected lingering concerns about the global economic outlook amid aggressive interest rate hikes by central banks around the world.

Adding to the negative sentiment, a reading on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve showed an acceleration in the pace of core consumer price growth in August. The faster rate of price growth may lead the Fed to maintain is aggressive stance regarding future rate hikes.

Crude oil futures failed to hold early gains and settled lower on Friday as worries about the outlook for energy demand weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $1.74 or 2.1 percent at $79.49 a barrel.