Hong Kong Shares Due For Support On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, slumping more than 500 points or 2.5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 19,450-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed, with bargain hunting offset by ongoing concerns over the outlook for the global economy. The European markets were sharply higher and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, oil companies and technology stocks.

For the day, the index lost 145.22 points or 0.74 percent to finish at 19,452.09 after trading between 19,342.49 and 19,630.80.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group stumbled 1.68 percent, while Alibaba Health Info climbed 1.36 percent, ANTA Sports weakened 1.41 percent, China Life Insurance shed 0.71 percent, China Mengniu Dairy slumped 1.73 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) slid 0.27 percent, China Resources Land plunged 4.48 percent, CNOOC dropped 0.95 percent, Country Garden plummeted 11.79 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical retreated 1.74 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rose 0.12 percent, Hang Lung Properties added 0.46 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas eased 0.13 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China sank 0.76 percent, JD.com dipped 0.41 percent, Lenovo tanked 3.11 percent, Li Ning declined 1.80 percent, Longfor fell 0.60 percent, Meituan skidded 1.40 percent, New World Development slid 0.59 percent, Techtronic Industries lost 0.70 percent, Xiaomi Corporation surrendered 1.93 percent, WuXi Biologics tumbled 2.21 percent and CITIC and Henderson Land were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened higher on Friday but tumbled in afternoon trade to finish deep in the red.

The Dow plummeted 337.98 points or 1.07 percent to finish at 31,318.44, while the NASDAQ tumbled 154.26 points or 1.31 percent to close at 11,630.86 and the S&P 500 sank 42.59 points or 1.07 percent to end at 3,924.26.

The volatility on Wall Street followed the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing U.S. employment increased roughly in line with estimates in August.

Amid recent concerns about the outlook for interest rates, the jobs data was described as a goldilocks report by some economists, coming in neither too hot nor too cold.

A separate report from the Commerce Department unexpectedly showed a sharp pullback in new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in July.

Crude oil prices ticked higher Friday on rising prospects for a reduction in output from OPEC and allies. But prices were down for the week amid worries about outlook for energy demand due to concerns about slowing global growth. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September rose $0.26 or 0.3 percent at $86.87 a barrel; they were down 6.7 percent in the week.