Hong Kong Stock Market May Test Resistance At 22,000 Points

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has climbed higher in consecutive trading days, collecting more than 700 points or 3.4 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 21,720-point plateau and now it may add to its winnings again on Monday.

The global forecast for the oversold Asian markets is broadly positive, with the oil, technology and financial sectors expected to lead the way higher. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financials, properties, technology stocks and oil companies.

For the day, the index surged 445.19 points or 2.09 percent to finish at 21,719.06 after trading between 21,408.66 and 21,762.67.

Among the actives, AAC Technologies jumped 3.28 percent, while Alibaba Group soared 5.46 percent, Alibaba Health Info accelerated 4.62 percent, ANTA Sports surged 6.47 percent, China Life Insurance lost 0.45 percent, China Mengniu Dairy advanced 2.84 percent, China Resources Land increased 0.85 percent, CITIC collected 0.13 percent, CNOOC retreated 1.40 percent, Country Garden perked 2.04 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical added 2.63 percent, Galaxy Entertainment climbed 3.07 percent, Hang Lung Properties advanced 0.42 percent, Henderson Land was up 0.17 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rose 1.45 percent, JD.com gained 2.55 percent, Lenovo improved 1.50 percent, Li Ning spiked 4.88 percent, Meituan gathered 2.86 percent, New World Development was up 0.54 percent, Techtronic Industries rallied 3.74 percent, Xiaomi Corporation strengthened 3.21 percent, WuXi Biologics skyrocketed 10.36 percent and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened sharply higher on Friday and remained that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow surged 823.28 points or 2.68 percent to finish at 31,500.68, while the NASDAQ rallied 375.42 points or 3.34 percent to end at 11,607.62 and the S&P 500 jumped 116.01 points or 3.06 percent to close at 3,911.74.

For the holiday-shortened week, the NASDAQ soared by 7.5 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Dow spiked by 6.4 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively.

Traders continue to express concerns about inflation, interest rates and a potential recession but may feel to sell-off earlier this month was overdone.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department unexpectedly reported a significant rebound in new home sales in May. Also, the University of Michigan said consumer sentiment in the U.S. tumbled more than expected in June.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday on optimism for continued high demand for energy and tight supply. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $3.35 or 3.2 percent at $107.62 a barrel. WTI futures shed 1.8 percent in the week.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide May numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In April, imports were up 2.1 percent on year, exports rose an annual 1.1 percent and the trade deficit came in at HKD36.6 billion.