Additional Support Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day losing streak in which it had plunged more than 700 points or 3.9 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 19,450-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat after days of selling as recession fears may already be priced in. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index surged 635.41 points or 3.38 percent to finish at 19,450.23 after trading between 18,965.05 and 19,521.60.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group climbed 5.11 percent, while Alibaba Health Info skyrocketed 16.06 percent, ANTA Sports increased 3.13 percent, China Life Insurance added 2.36 percent, China Mengniu Dairy rose 0.59 percent, CNOOC retreated 1.31 percent, Country Garden and Henderson Land both rallied 6.34 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical skidded 0.93 percent, Galaxy Entertainment jumped 5.62 percent, Hang Lung Properties gained 0.84 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 1.05 percent, JD.com strengthened 5.50 percent, Lenovo dipped 0.16 percent, Li Ning advanced 3.27 percent, Longfor soared 8.50 percent, Meituan accelerated 6.45 percent, New World Development spiked 7.14 percent, Techtronic Industries stumbled 1.06 percent, Xiaomi Corporation improved 3.37 percent, WuXi Biologics surged 9.35 percent and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec), China Resources Land, CITIC and Hong Kong & China Gas were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the session.

The Dow jumped 183.56 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 33,781.48, while the NASDAQ rallied 123.45 points or 1.13 percent to end at 11,082.00 and the S&P 500 added 29.59 points or 0.75 percent to close at 3,963.51.

The strength on Wall Street came as traders picked up stocks at somewhat reduced levels following the sell-off seen to start the week, which reflected concerns about the outlook for interest rates and the economy.

Traders will be looking for signs of a slowdown in producer price inflation later today, as well as a reduction in inflation expectations amid concerns the Federal Reserve will need to push the economy into a prolonged recession in order to bring inflation down close to its 2 percent target.

The Labor Department reported that first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged slightly higher last week.

Crude oil showed a notable downturn over the course of the trading day on Thursday as traders remain concerned about the outlook for energy demand amid the possibility of a global recession. West Texas Intermediate for January delivery slid $0.55 or 0.8 percent to $71.46 a barrel.