Consolidation Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, rising almost 130 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 20,440-point plateau although it's likely to run out of steam on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower as inflation concerns war with support from oil stocks. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the oil and financial companies, while the technology and property sectors were mixed.

For the day, the index jumped 94.31 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 20,438.81 after trading between 20,297.16 and 20,482.68.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group rose 0.37 percent, while Alibaba Health Info tumbled 1.51 percent, ANTA Sports surged 2.08 percent, China Life Insurance improved 0.76 percent, China Mengniu Dairy spiked 1.36 percent, China Resources Land rallied 1.17 percent, CITIC climbed 0.96 percent, CNOOC advanced 0.80 percent, Country Garden perked 0.13 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical added 0.74 percent, Galaxy Entertainment slumped 0.83 percent, Henderson Land sank 0.37 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.24 percent, JD.com retreated 1.47 percent, Lenovo shed 0.36 percent, Li Ning jumped 1.18 percent, Meituan skidded 1.07 percent, New World Development dropped 0.70 percent, Techtronic Industries gained 0.61 percent, Xiaomi Corporation gathered 0.33 percent, WuXi Biologics soared 1.76 percent and Hang Lung Properties and Hong Kong & China Gas were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages shook off early support on Friday, quickly heading south and staying in the red throughout the day.

The Dow tumbled 143.23 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 33,886.47, while the NASDAQ sank 42.83 points or 0.35 percent to close at 12,123.47 and the S&P 500 fell 8.58 points or 0.21 percent to end at 4,137.64. For the week, the Dow jumped 1.2 percent, the S&P 500 added 0.8 percent and the NASAQ rose 0.3 percent.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street coincided with the release of a report from the University of Michigan showing a jump in inflation expectations in the month of April.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said retail sales fell more than expected in March, while the Federal Reserve said U.S. industrial production increased more than expected in March, although the increase was largely due to a spike in utilities output.

Crude oil futures settled modestly higher Friday, lifted by the International Energy Agency's forecast that global crude demand will grow to a record 101.9 million barrels per day this year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May rose $0.36 or 0.4 percent at $82.52 a barrel.