Lower Open Expected For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market headed south again on Friday, one session after ending the four-day losing streak in which it had surrendered more than 800 points or 4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 20,720-point plateau and it may take further damage on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on lingering concerns over the outlook for interest rates following the recent batch of data. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets also figure to open in the red.

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

For the day, the index stumbled 267.89 points or 1.28 percent to finish at 20,719.81 after trading between 20,703.74 and 21,056.68.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group tumbled 2.60 percent, while Alibaba Health Info jumped 1.86 percent, ANTA Sports lost 0.48 percent, China Life Insurance gave away 1.02 percent, China Mengniu Dairy and JD.com both dropped 0.94 percent, China Resources Land skidded 1.38 percent, CITIC fell 0.34 percent, CNOOC eased 0.18 percent, Country Garden surrendered 2.42 percent, Galaxy Entertainment shed 0.57 percent, Hang Lung Properties sank 0.75 percent, Henderson Land slumped 1.81 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas weakened 1.84 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.50 percent, Lenovo plunged 3.14 percent, Li Ning rose 0.07 percent, Meituan tanked 2.76 percent, New World Development slumped 2.02 percent, Techtronic Industries declined 2.23 percent, Xiaomi Corporation plummeted 3.35 percent, WuXi Biologics retreated 2.07 percent and CSPC Pharmaceutical was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed as the major averages opened in the red on Friday, although the Dow managed to break into the positive territory and finish mildly in the green.

The Dow climbed 129.79 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 33,826.69, while the NASDAQ slumped 68.53 points or 0.58 percent to close at 11,787.27 and the S&P 500 fell 11.32 points or 0.28 percent to end at 4,079.09. For the week, the Dow eased 0.1 percent, the NASDAQ rose 0.6 percent and the S&P dipped 0.3 percent.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates following the week's batch of economic data, which has led to worries the Federal Reserve could raise rates higher than currently anticipated.

Recent comments from Fed officials have added to the concerns, with some suggesting the central bank could raise rates by another 50 basis points next month.

The recovery attempt came as treasury yields showed a notable turnaround, with the benchmark ten-year yield pulling back off its highest levels in well over a month.

Crude oil prices moved sharply lower on Friday, extending its recent losing streak to four days as traders worried about the impact of rate hikes on energy demand. West Texas Intermediate tumbled $2.15 or 2.7 percent to $76.34 per barrel. For the week, oil slumped 4.2 percent.