Steady Start Seen For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market turned lower again on Friday, one day after ending the two-day slide in which it had dropped more than 220 points or 0.8 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 26,240-point plateau and it may see mild upside on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on continuing concerns about an artificial intelligence bubble. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourse were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the technology stocks and a mixed picture from the property sector.

For the day, the index stumbled 244.07 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 26,241.83 after trading between 26,167.23 and 26,371.46.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group plunged 2.97 percent, while Alibaba Health Info retreated 2.09 percent, ANTA Sports lost 0.31 percent, China Life Insurance sank 0.85 percent, China Mengniu Dairy gained 0.35 percent, China Resources Land contracted 1.42 percent, CITIC shed 0.48 percent, CNOOC jumped 1.44 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical tumbled 2.25 percent, Galaxy Entertainment improved 0.62 percent, Haier Smart Home added 0.39 percent, Hang Lung Properties eased 0.12 percent, Henderson Land surged 3.97 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rallied 0.94 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.32 percent, JD.com stumbled 2.29 percent, Lenovo skidded 1.33 percent, Li Auto declined 1.77 percent, Meituan dropped 1.26 percent, New World Development fell 0.28 percent, Techtronic Industries slumped 1.75 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tanked 2.76 percent, WuXi Biologics plummeted 3.49 percent and Li Ning and Nongfu Spring were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cloudy as the major averages spent most of Friday under water before a late push salvaged a mixed close.

The Dow added 74.80 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 46,987.10, while the NASDAQ sank 49.46 points or 0.21 percent to close at 23,004.54 and the S&P 500 rose 8.48 points or 0.13 percent to end at 6,728.80.

For the week, the tech-heavy NASDAQ plunged 3.0 percent, while the S&P 500 tumbled 1.7 percent and the Dow slumped 1.2 percent.

The recovery in afternoon trading reflected optimism about an end to the prolonged government shutdown following an offer from top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer - although Republicans turned the offer down later in the day.

Negative sentiment was also generated by a report from the University of Michigan showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. has deteriorated much more than anticipated in November; consumers are now expressing worries about potential negative economic consequences of the shutdown as the stalemate exceeds one month.

Crude oil prices saw modest gains on Friday as a weakening dollar was offset by reports of oversupply and low demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.38 or 0.64 percent at $59.81 per barrel.