Hong Kong Shares Predicted To Open Under Pressure

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one session after halting the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost 210 points or 1.1 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 19,450-point plateau although it's likely to see renewed selling pressure on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on continuing concerns over the outlook for interest rates and a global recession. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index added 82.07 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 19,450.67 after trading between 19,130.53 and 19,621.13.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group and Li Ning both added 0.64 percent, while Alibaba Health Info accelerated 2.03 percent, ANTA Sports rallied 1.95 percent, China Life Insurance spiked 2.35 percent, China Mengniu Dairy dropped 0.86 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rose 0.27 percent, China Resources Land soared 3.90 percent, CITIC gathered 1.01 percent, CNOOC was up 0.10 percent, Country Garden skyrocketed 6.85 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical gained 0.35 percent, Galaxy Entertainment increased 1.25 percent, Henderson Land strengthened 1.89 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas sank 0.67 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.26 percent, JD.com climbed 1.53 percent, Lenovo improved 1.26 percent, Longfor jumped 1.98 percent, Meituan lost 0.51 percent, New World Development perked 0.23 percent, Techtronic Industries tumbled 2.31 percent, WuXi Biologics surged 5.45 percent and Hang Lung Properties, Xiaomi Corporation and Nongfu Springs were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Friday and remained in the red throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 281.74 points or 0.85 percent to finish at 32,920.46, while the NASDAQ dropped 105.09 points or 0.97 percent to close at 10,705.41 and the S&P 500 sank 43.39 points or 1.11 percent to end at 3,852.36.

For the week, the NASDAQ plunged 2.7 percent, the S&P declined 2.1 percent and the Dow retreated 1.7 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates and the economy. The Fed's hawkish tone in its latest monetary policy announcement has added to worries about the central bank's aggressive rate hikes tipping the economy into a recession.

While inflation has recently shown signs of slowing, the Fed signaled it plans to continue raising interest rates next year.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Friday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to a global economic slowdown. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down by $1.82 or 2.4 percent at $74.29 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 4.4 percent in the week.