Soft Start Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of the three-day slide in which it had slumped more than 480 points or 2.7 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 19,640-point plateau although it may turn lower again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on profit taking and reduced optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are expected to trend in the latter direction.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Thursday with gains across the board, especially among the financials, oil companies, properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index spiked 273.97 points or 1.41 percent to finish at 19,639.11 after trading between 19,482.47 and 19,685.79.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group strengthened 1.70 percent, while Alibaba Health Info shed 0.37 percent, ANTA Sports jumped 1.74 percent, China Life Insurance soared 4.28 percent, China Mengniu Dairy and Meituan both improved 1.26 percent, China Resources Land spiked 3.93 percent, CITIC climbed 1.66 percent, CNOOC rose 0.49 percent, Country Garden skyrocketed 9.36 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical advanced 1.57 percent, Galaxy Entertainment soared 3.85 percent, Hang Lung Properties rallied 3.29 percent, Henderson Land jumped 2.14 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas accelerated 1.99 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 1.37 percent, JD.com added 1.20 percent, Lenovo dipped 0.12 percent., Li Ning surged 5.25 percent, New World Development spiked 2.32 percent, Techtronic Industries gained 1.10 percent, Xiaomi Corporation surged 5.61 percent and WuXi Biologics lost 0.36 percent.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but faded late and ended modestly in the red.

The Dow dropped 237.40 points or 0.67 percent to finish at 35,282.72, while the NASDAQ slumped 77.17 points or 0.55 percent to close at 14,050.11 and the S&P 500 fell 29.34 points or 0.64 percent to end at 4,537.41.

The early strength on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to upbeat earnings news from the likes of Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META) and fast food giant McDonald's (MCD).

Stocks also initially benefitted from the release of a batch of upbeat U.S. economic data, including a Commerce Department showing an unexpected acceleration in the pace of economic growth in the second quarter.

However, the upbeat data subsequently raised some concerns about the outlook for interest rates following Wednesday's monetary policy decision by the Federal Reserve.

Oil prices climbed higher on Thursday thanks to prospects of tighter supply in the market due to production cuts by OPEC and allies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September jumped $1.31 or 1.7 percent at $80.09 a barrel.