Mild Consolidation Called For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the four-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 750 points or 4.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 17,830-point plateau and it figures to remain rangebound again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with growth concerns warring with interest rate optimism. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index tumbled 246.18 points or 1.36 percent to finish at 17,832.82 after trading between 17,722.86 and 18,174.69.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group stumbled 2.22 percent, while Alibaba Health Info dropped 1.61 percent, ANTA Sports tanked 3.95 percent, China Life Insurance and China Resources Land both skidded 1.95 percent, China Mengniu Dairy and China Resources Mixc Lifestyle Services both tumbled 3.85 percent, CITIC eased 0.28 percent, CNOOC shed 1.37 percent, Country Garden rallied 1.36 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical plunged 5.97 percent, Galaxy Entertainment was down 0.69 percent, Hang Lung Properties slumped 2.11 percent, Henderson Land declined 3.11 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas slid 0.72 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 1.04 percent, JD.com jumped 1.98 percent, Lenovo retreated 2.66 percent, Li Ning surrendered 5.03 percent, Meituan sank 1.41 percent, New World Development fell 0.77 percent, Xiaomi Corporation plummeted 6.55 percent, WuXi Biologics tanked 5.82 percent and Techtronic Industries was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and spent most of the day in the red before finishing mixed and little changed.

The Dow dipped 45.74 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 34,945.47, while the NASDAQ rose 9.84 points or 0.07 percent to close at 14,113.67 and the S&P 500 perked 5.36 points or 0.12 percent to end at 4,508.24.

A steep drop by shares of Walmart (WMT) and Cisco Systems (CSCO) weighed on the Dow, while upticks by the NASDAQ and S&P came as the latest U.S. economic data added to recent optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

The Labor Department released a report showing U.S. import and export prices both fell by more than expected in the month of October, capping off an encouraging week of inflation data.

A separate Labor Department report showing initial jobless claims climbed by much more than expected last week, while the Federal Reserve said industrial production fell more than expected in October.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Thursday on fears of a likely drop in energy demand after soft data from the U.S., Europe and Asia raised worries about an economic slowdown. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December tumbled $3.76 or 4.9 percent at $72.90 a barrel.