Hong Kong Shares Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Friday halted the six-day losing streak in which it had plummeted more than 1,700 points or 9.5 percent to an 11-year closing low. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 16,580-point plateau although it's looking at renewed consolidation on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on rising fears of recession and higher interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the properties, technology stocks and oil companies.

For the day, the index advanced 198.59 points or 1.21 percent to finish at 16,587.69 after trading between 16,535.37 and 17,028.68.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group and Henderson Land both gained 0.69 percent, while Alibaba Health Info climbed 1.53 percent, ANTA Sports accelerated 3.23 percent, China Life Insurance collected 1.45 percent, China Mengniu Dairy slumped 1.68 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) improved 1.51 percent, China Resources Land increased 1.49 percent, CITIC rose 0.56 percent, CNOOC advanced 1.47 percent, Country Garden surged 5.64 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical soared 3.89 percent, Galaxy Entertainment perked 0.12 percent, Hang Lung Properties gathered 0.31 percent, JD.com skidded 1.02 percent, Lenovo jumped 2.79 percent, Li Ning spiked 3.38 percent, Longfor rallied 3.01 percent, Meituan strengthened 2.05 percent, New World Development fell 0.24 percent, Techtronic Industries sank 0.72 percent, Xiaomi Corporation added 1.17 percent, WuXi Biologics skyrocketed 8.60 percent and Hong Kong & China Gas and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened higher on Friday but quickly nosedived into the red and finished with deep losses.

The Dow tumbled 403.87 points or 1.34 percent to finish at 29,634.83, while the NASDAQ plunged 327.81 points or 3.08 percent to close at 10,321.39 and the S&P 500 sank 86.84 points or 2.37 percent to end at 3,583.07.

For the week, the Dow rose 1.2 percent, the NASDAQ dropped 3.1 percent and the S&P lost 1.5 percent.

The sharp pullback on Wall Street extended the volatility on Thursday, when stocks recovered from an early sell-off to close sharply higher. But renewed selling pressure was generated by a report from the University of Michigan showing a rebound in inflation expectations in October.

Traders also reacted to earnings news from several big-name financial companies as JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) reported better than expected revenues, while Morgan Stanley (MS) missed estimates.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Friday, weighed down by concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid the rising possibility of a global recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $3.50 or 3.9 percent at $85.61 a barrel.