Lower Open Expected For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, advancing almost 140 points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 16,380-point plateau although it's likely to open in the red on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amid a lack of catalysts, while concerns over the outlook for interest rates continue to persist. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index rallied 134.03 points or 0.82 percent to finish at 16,385.87 after trading between 16,206.55 and 16,507.60.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group dipped 0.15 percent, while Alibaba Health Info gained 0.38 percent, ANTA Sports soared 4.11 percent, China Life Insurance accelerated 2.60 percent, China Mengniu Dairy climbed 1.83 percent, China Resources Land spiked 2.81 percent, CITIC strengthened 1.89 percent, CNOOC tumbled 2.23 percent, Country Garden retreated 1.15 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical improved 0.86 percent, Galaxy Entertainment shed 0.44 percent, Haier Smart Home surged 4.31 percent, Hang Lung Properties advanced 1.00 percent, Henderson Land lost 0.22 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas perked 0.18 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rallied 2.24 percent, JD.com dropped 0.71 percent, Lenovo slumped 0.73 percent, Meituan rose 0.21 percent, New World Development jumped 2.16 percent, Techtronic Industries increased 0.68 percent, Xiaomi Corporation added 0.61 percent, WuXi Biologics sank 0.60 percent and Li Ning was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains weak as the major averages were unable to hold early gains on Thursday, finished mixed with a downside bias.

The Dow rose 22.07 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 37,775.38, while the NASDAQ slumped 81.87 points or 0.52 percent to close at 15,601.50 and the S&P 500 sank 11.09 points or 0.22 percent to end at 5,011.12.

The early strength on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness. However, buying interest waned over the course of the session amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

Adding to interest rate worries, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve released a report showing a considerable acceleration in the pace of growth in regional manufacturing activity in April.

Also, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing a sharp pullback by existing home sales in the U.S. last month.

Oil futures settled roughly flat on Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for global oil demand and on recent data showing a jump in crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May settled at $82.73 a barrel, up $0.04 from the previous close.