Hong Kong Shares Have Solid Lead For Friday's Trade

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Thursday halted the seven-day losing streak in which it had plummeted more than 835 points or 4.7 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 18,050-point plateau and it's predicted to open higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive thanks to encouraging economic data. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financials and mixed performances from the properties and technology companies.

For the day, the index gained 38.70 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 18,047.92 after trading between 17,928.63 and 18,173.54.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group advanced 0.41 percent, while Alibaba Health Info fell 0.22 percent, ANTA Sports and CSPC Pharmaceutical both gained 0.17 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.50 percent, China Mengniu Dairy tumbled 1.80 percent, China Resources Land slumped 0.74 percent, CITIC jumped 1.21 percent, CNOOC surged 5.02 percent, Country Garden plummeted 5.90 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rose 0.10 percent, Hang Lung Properties spiked 1.56 percent, Henderson Land sank 0.73 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas lost 0.36 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rallied 1.07 percent, JD.com added 0.24 percent, Lenovo climbed 0.86 percent, Li Ning plunged 2.85 percent, Meituan eased 0.08 percent, New World Development stumbled 1.63 percent, Techtronic Industries tanked 2.71 percent, Xiaomi Corporation soared 2.68 percent and WuXi Biologics was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened solidly higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow surged 331.58 points or 0.96 percent to finish at 34,907.11, while the NASDAQ spiked 112.47 points or 0.81 percent to end at 13,926.05 and the S&P 500 improved 37.66 points or 0.84 percent to close at 4,505.10.

The strength on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to a slew of U.S. economic data, including a Commerce Department report showing retail sales in the U.S. increased by much more than expected in the month of August.

Also, the Labor Department said producer prices in the U.S. increased by more than expected in month of August. However, the data does not raise concerns about inflation, as the increase in prices was largely due to a spike in energy prices.

Oil prices rose sharply on Thursday as concerns over the outlook for crude supplies outweighed worries about energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $1.64 or 1.9 percent at $90.16 a barrel, the highest settlement in almost 10 months.