Hong Kong Shares May Stop The Bleeding On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, tumbling almost 650 points or 3.6 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 18,200-point plateau although it's due for support on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, with bargain hunting expected to support the more oversold bourses. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished barely lower on Friday, nudged into the red weakness from the technology and property sectors.

For the day, the index eased 0.03 points or 0.00 percent to finish at 18,202.07 after trading between 18,173.44 and 18,437.48.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group weakened 1.57 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plummeted 3.88 percent, ANTA Sports dipped 0.84 percent, China Life Insurance stumbled 1.76 percent, China Mengniu Dairy eased 0.19 percent, China Resources Land slumped 1.60 percent, CITIC retreated 1.94 percent, CNOOC added 0.52 percent, Country Garden declined 2.07 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical was down 0.35 percent, ENN Energy surged 4.46 percent, Galaxy Entertainment skidded 1.49 percent, Hang Lung Properties fell 1.13 percent, Henderson Land lost 1.17 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas slid 0.87 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China advanced 0.80 percent, JD.com tanked 3.09 percent, Lenovo plunged 3.36 percent, Li Ning dropped 1.45 percent, Meituan surrendered 2.57 percent, New World Development shed 1.41 percent, Techtronic Industries sank 1.43 percent, Xiaomi Corporation jumped 1.19 percent and WuXi Biologics tumbled 2.22 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened in the green on Friday and spent all of the day in positive territory, although they ended well off session highs.

The Dow gained 75.89 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 34,576.59, while the NASDAQ rose 12.73 points or 0.09 percent to close at 13,761.53 and the S&P 500 gained 6.35 points or 0.14 percent to end at 4,457.49. For the week, the NASDAQ tumbled 1.9 percent, the S&P 500 slumped 1.3 percent and the Dow slid 0.8 percent.

The modest strength on Wall Street partly reflected bargain hunting, as some traders pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness. The uptick by the NASDAQ snapped a four-day losing streak.

Some traders may also have felt concerns about the outlook for interest rates, which contributed to the recent weakness, have been overdone.

While recent economic data has led to worries the Federal Reserve may leave rates higher for longer than previously anticipated, the central bank is still widely expected to keep rates unchanged later this month.

Crude oil prices climbed on Friday amid concerns about tightening oil supplies following Russia and Saudi Arabia's decision last week to extend their supply cut to the end of the year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October rose $0.64 or 0.7 percent at $87.51 a barrel.