Hong Kong Bourse May Stop The Bleeding On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in consecutive trading days, skidding more than 260 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 18,910-point plateau and it's expected to find its footing on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive thanks to better than expected inflation data. The European and U.S. markets finished higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished slightly lower on Friday following mixed performances from the technology stocks and properties.

For the day, the index dipped 17.97 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 18,916.43 after trading between 18,838.62 and 19,070.11.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group skidded 1.22 percent, while Alibaba Health Info and ENN Energy Holdings were up 0.21 percent, ANTA Sports added 0.69 percent, China Life Insurance improved 0.46 percent, China Mengniu Dairy sank 0.67 percent, China Resources Land shed 0.60 percent, CITIC jumped 1.30 percent, CNOOC rose 0.54 percent, Country Garden soared 2.43 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical advanced 0.74 percent, Galaxy Entertainment declined 1.58 percent, Hang Lung Properties gained 0.67 percent, Henderson Land climbed 1.08 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas increased 0.45 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.48 percent, JD.com lost 0.38 percent, Lenovo tumbled 2.04 percent, Li Ning spiked 1.81 percent, Meituan retreated 1.92 percent, New World Development gathered 0.42 percent, Techtronic Industries dropped 0.87 percent, Xiaomi Corporation slumped 1.29 percent and WuXi Biologics surged 4.45 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained in the green throughout the day, closing near session highs.

The Dow jumped 285.20 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 34,407.60, while the NASDAQ rallied 196.62 points or 1.45 percent to end at 13,787.92 and the S&P 500 climbed 53.94 points or 1.23 percent to close at 4,450.38.

For the week, the S&P 500 spiked 2.4 percent, the NASDAQ shot up 2.2 percent and the Dow leapt 2.0 percent. The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 also posted substantial gains for the first half of 2023.

The rally on Wall Street followed the release of a Commerce Department report showing an unexpected slowdown in the annual rate of consumer price growth in May.

While economists generally still expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by another quarter point this month, the data added to optimism the central bank will not follow through with additional rate hikes.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday, extending recent gains, as a drop in U.S. crude inventories continued to support the commodity. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $0.78 or 1.1 percent at $70.64 a barrel. However, WTI Crude futures shed about 12 percent in H1 and more than 6 percent in Q2.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide May figures for retail sales later today; in April, sales were up 15.0 percent on year.