Hong Kong Shares May Extend Thursday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Thursday ended the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 260 points or 1.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 18,530-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Friday.

The global forecast is upbeat on an improving outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Thursday with gains across the board, particularly among the technology and property sectors.

For the day, the index jumped 223.95 points or 1.22 percent to finish at 18,537.81 after trading between 18,278.11 and 18,560.76.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group added 0.85 percent, while Alibaba Health Info soared 3.59 percent, ANTA Sports and Hong Kong & China Gas both perked 0.49 percent, China Life Insurance advanced 0.92 percent, China Mengniu Dairy jumped 1.92 percent, China Resources Land spiked 2.74 percent, CITIC rallied 2.37 percent, CNOOC gathered 0.50 percent, Country Garden surged 4.38 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical strengthened 1.65 percent, Galaxy Entertainment gained 0.54 percent, Hang Lung Properties rose 0.51 percent, Henderson Land picked up 0.21 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 1.40 percent, JD.com climbed 1.05 percent, Lenovo skyrocketed 8.72 percent, Li Ning surged 5.02 percent, Meituan soared 3.88 percent, New World Development rallied 2.68 percent, Techtronic Industries accelerated 2.95 percent, Xiaomi Corporation was up 0.31 percent and WuXi Biologics spiked 3.26 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened lower on Thursday but quickly bounced higher and spent the rest of the day in positive territory.

The Dow jumped 331.36 points or 0.85 percent to finish at 39,387.76, while the NASDAQ gained 43.46 points or 0.27 percent to close at 16,346.26 and the S&P 500 added 26.41 points or 0.51 percent to end at 5,214.08.

The strength on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing a bigger than expected increase by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

The data added to recently renewed optimism that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates in the coming months.

While the Fed is still widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged in June, the chances rates will be lower by September have reached 89.3 percent, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

Oil prices moved higher on Thursday, lifted by optimism about the outlook for demand and on recent data showing a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.27 at $79.26 a barrel.