Hong Kong Bourse May Find Traction On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, dropping more than 660 points or 2.6 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 25,250-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Monday.

The global forecast for the European markets is cautiously optimistic on easing economic tensions between the United States and China. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Friday with damage across the board, especially among the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index stumbled 641.40 points or 2.48 percent to finish at 25,247.10 after trading between 25,145.34 and 25,859.82.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group crashed 4.22 percent, while Alibaba Health Info and CSPC Pharmaceutical both tanked 4.05 percent, ANTA Sports slid 1.17 percent, China Life Insurance plummeted 5.75 percent, China Mengniu Dairy dropped 2.36 percent, China Resources Land lost 1.29 percent, CITIC declined 2.96 percent, CNOOC shed 1.85 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rose 0.27 percent, Haier Smart Home fell 1.24 percent, Hang Lung Properties and CKI Properties both added 0.57 percent, Henderson Land dipped 0.44 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas perked 0.14 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slipped 1.19 percent, JD.com tumbled 3.12 percent, Lenovo retreated 3.04 percent, Li Auto surrendered 3.79 percent, Li Ning sank 2.12 percent, Meituan cratered 4.30 percent, New World Development contracted 3.55 percent, Nongfu Spring skidded 2.74 percent, Techtronic Industries slumped 2.77 percent, Xiaomi Corporation stumbled 3.65 percent and WuXi Biologics plunged 4.09 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened lower on Friday and hugged the line before rallying midday to finish solidly in the green.

The Dow jumped 238.41 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 46,190.61, while the NASDAQ climbed 117.47 points or 0.52 percent to end at 22,679.97 and the S&P 500 added 34.94 points or 0.53 percent to close at 6,664.01.

The strength that emerged on Wall Street came as the concerns about bad loans that dragged the markets lower on Thursday seemed to evaporate as quickly as they materialized.

Stocks also benefited from easing concerns about the trade dispute between the U.S. and China following comments from President Donald Trump, who admitted that the high tariffs he threatened to impose on China are probably not sustainable.

Crude oil prices rose on Friday after Trump suddenly reversed his hardline stance on China, suggesting warmer trade relations could lead to an increase in energy demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up by $0.20 or 0.35 percent at $57.66 per barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will see September data for unemployment later today; in August, the jobless rate was 3.7 percent.