Lower Open Called For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Thursday halted 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 21,000-point plateau although it's likely to head south again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index improved 175.50 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 20,987.67 after trading between 20,887.70 and 21,306.54.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group strengthened 1.19 percent, while Alibaba Health Info soared 3.51 percent, ANTA Sports declined 1.50 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.74 percent, China Mengniu Dairy perked 0.14 percent, China Resources Land added 0.70 percent, CNOOC rose 0.18 percent, Country Garden spiked 1.97 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical gained 0.23 percent, Galaxy Entertainment tumbled 1.69 percent, Hang Lung Properties accelerated 1.52 percent, Henderson Land sank 0.54 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dropped 0.78 percent, JD.com surged 5.25 percent, Lenovo skyrocketed 6.71 percent, Li Ning and Xiaomi Corporation both advanced 0.77 percent, Meituan jumped 1.64 percent, New World Development climbed 0.90 percent, Techtronic Industries rallied 1.78 percent, WuXi Biologics plummeted 4.30 percent and CITIC and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Thursday, pared the losses midday but then slumped again to finish near session lows.

The Dow plunged 431.20 points or 1.26 percent to finish at 33,696.85, while the NASDAQ tumbled 214.76 points or 1.78 percent to close at 11,855.83 and the S&P 500 dropped 57.19 points or 1.38 percent to end at 4,090.41.

The steep drop on Wall Street followed the Labor Department report showing a bigger than expected increase in producer prices, leading to renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

A separate Labor Department report showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged slightly lower last week.

Oil futures settled lower on Thursday, extending losses to a third straight session on recent data showing a surge in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended down $0.10 at $78.49 a barrel.