Higher Open Predicted For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Friday halted the five-day losing streak in which it had tumbled almost 920 points or 4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 23,960-point plateau and it's got another strong lead for Monday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on bargain hunting, especially among the oil and technology companies. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Friday with gains across the board, particularly among the financials, properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index surged 497.28 points or 2.12 percent to finish at 23,959.98 after trading between 23,454.49 and 24,113.53.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group strengthened 3.27 percent, while Alibaba Health Info expanded 2.47 percent, ANTA Sports rallied 5.32 percent, China Life Insurance soared 6.31 percent, China Mengniu Dairy surged 9.03 percent, China Resources Land accelerated 3.93 percent, CITIC rose 1.05 percent, CKI Holdings tumbled 2.93 percent, CNOOC was up 0.11 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical improved 2.11 percent, ENN Energy eased 0.09 percent, Galaxy Entertainment jumped 3.53 percent, Haier Smart Home soared 6.01 percent, Hang Lung Properties gathered 0.75 percent, Henderson Land perked 0.44 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas and CLP Holdings both sank 0.78 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 1.80 percent, JD.com spiked 5.34 percent, Lenovo gained 1.40 percent, Li Auto advanced 2.35 percent, Li Ning surged 6.38 percent, Meituan spiked 5.41 percent, New World Development added 1.53 percent, Nongfu Spring climbed 2.70 percent, Techtronic Industries lost 0.76 percent, Xiaomi Corporation increased 1.89 percent and WuXi Biologics skyrocketed 14.38 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened sharply higher on Friday and continued to accelerate as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 674.62 points or 1.65 percent to finish at 41,488.19, while the NASDAQ rallied 451.07 points or 2.61 percent to close at 17,754.09 and the S&P 500 jumped 117.42 points or 2.13 percent to end at 5,638.94.

For the week, the Dow plunged 3.1 percent, the NASDAQ tumbled 2.4 percent and the S&P 500 slumped 2.3 percent.

The rally on Wall Street saw traders pick up stocks at reduced levels after the steep drop on Thursday, which dragged the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 down to their lowest closing levels in six months - and also sending the S&P into correction territory.

In economic news, the University of Michigan noted a substantial deterioration in consumer sentiment and a surge by inflation expectations in the month of March.

Oil prices climbed higher on Friday as worries about excess supply in the market eased after the U.S. government announced fresh sanctions on Iranian oil and shipping. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $0.63 or 1 percent at $67.18 a barrel.