Hong Kong Stock Market Expected To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had tumbled more than 350 points or 1.8 percent. The Hang Seng now rests just beneath the 19,975-point plateau although it's likely to open lower again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on concerns for an economic slowdown and an increase in interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished slightly higher on Friday following gains from the oil companies and mixed performances from the properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index perked 9.12 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 19,773.03 after trading between 19,656.80 and 19,898.18.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group jumped 1.42 percent, while Alibaba Health Info tumbled 1.81 percent, ANTA Sports improved 0.65 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.53 percent, China Mengniu Dairy declined 1.62 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.83 percent, China Resources Land rallied 1.16 percent, CITIC gained 0.72 percent, CNOOC climbed 0.94 percent, Country Garden spiked 2.12 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical slumped 0.75 percent, Galaxy Entertainment sank 0.65 percent, Hang Lung Properties skidded 1.05 percent, Henderson Land rose 0.18 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas accelerated 1.87 percent, JD.com fell 0.18 percent, Lenovo surged 2.86 percent, Li Ning retreated 1.07 percent, Longfor soared 2.67 percent, Meituan dropped 0.70 percent, New World Development shed 0.38 percent, Techtronic Industries advanced 0.88 percent, Xiaomi Corporation perked 0.17 percent, WuXi Biologics plummeted 4.88 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and CK Infrastructure were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday and remained deep in the red throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 292.26 points or 0.86 percent to finish at 33.706.74, while the NASDAQ plummeted 260.08 points or 2.01 percent to close at 12,705.21 and the S&P 500 slumped 55.26 points or 1.29 percent to end at 4,228.48. For the week, the NASDAQ dove 2.6 percent, the S&P sank 1.2 percent and the Dow dipped 0.2 percent.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders looked to cash in on recent strength in the markets, which lifted the major averages well off their June lows to their best levels in almost four months.

Traders may also have been moving money out of stocks ahead of this week's economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Remarks by Federal Reserve officials at the annual symposium are likely to be in focus, as traders look for additional clues about the pace of future interest rate hikes.

Oil futures settled modestly higher on Friday but posted a weekly loss due to concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid fears of a possible recession in Europe. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September rose $0.27 or 0.3 percent at $90.77 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will release July figures for consumer prices later today. Inflation is expected to rise 2.0 percent on year, accelerating from 1.8 percent in June. Inflation had risen 0.3 percent on month in June.