Additional Support Called For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one day after snapping the two-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 240 points or 1.1 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 21,075-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with support expected from the technology stocks and weakness from oil companies amid recession fears. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit on Monday.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financials and technology stocks, while the properties were soft.

For the day, the index climbed 229.57 points or 1.10 percent to finish at 21,075.00 after trading between 20,697.17 and 21,145.94.

Among the actives, AAC Technologies gathered 0.47 percent, while Alibaba Group jumped 2.05 percent, Alibaba Health Info soared 5.14 percent, ANTA Sports improved 036 percent, China Life Insurance rallied 2.10 percent, China Mengniu Dairy gained 0.57 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) and Hang Lung Properties both fell 0.28 percent, China Resources Land climbed 1.07 percent, CITIC slumped 1.17 percent, CNOOC declined 0.75 percent, Country Garden and Hong Kong & China Gas both shed 0.36 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical strengthened 1.70 percent, Galaxy Entertainment sank 0.49 percent, Henderson Land tumbled 1.58 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.90 percent, JD.com skyrocketed 6.09 percent, Lenovo added 0.84 percent, Li Ning advanced 0.93 percent, Meituan surged 5.23 percent, New World Development skidded 1.07 percent, Techtronic Industries plunged 3.15 percent, Xiaomi Corporation spiked 2.97 percent and WuXi Biologics accelerated 2.84 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed as the major averages opened higher on Friday, although the Dow was unable to hold its gains.

The Dow shed 38.29 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 29,888.78, while the NASDAQ surged 152.25 points or 1.43 percent to end at 10,798.35 and the S&P 500 rose 8.07 points or 0.22 percent to close at 3,674.84. For the week, the Dow and NASDAQ both plunged 3.8 percent and the S&P tumbled 5.8 percent.

The volatility on Wall Street came amid a quadruple witching day, which refers to the expiration of stock index futures, single-stock futures, stock options and stock index options.

Traders may also have been expressing some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following Thursday's sell-off, which reflected concerns about the economic impact of aggressive monetary policy tightening.

In economic news, the Federal Reserve said industrial production increased less than expected in May, while the Conference Board showed a continued decrease by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators last month.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Friday on mounting fears about a possible global economic recession following severe tightening of policies by several central banks. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended lower by $8.03 or 6.8 percent at $109.56 a barrel.