Bargain Hunting May Lift Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in seven straight sessions, slumping almost 1,700 points or 7.2 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 24,250-point plateau although its overdue for support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat after the United States said it would hold off on fresh attacks in Iran. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow them to the upside.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial and property shares and a mixed performance from the technology stocks.

For the day, the index dropped 158.67 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 24,249.29 after trading between 23,999.67 and 24,492.71.

Among the actives, AIA surged 4.98 percent, while Alibaba Group plummeted 5.37 percent, Baidu plunged 3.08 percent, Bank of China slumped 0.92 percent, BOC Hong Kong jumped 1.82 percent, China Construction Bank shed 0.69 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.21 percent, China Merchants Bank fell 0.58 percent, China Mobile sank 0.73 percent, China Shenhua Energy eased 0.09 percent, CITIC dropped 0.85 percent, CNOOC stumbled 1.16 percent, Hong Kong Exchange crashed 2.35 percent, HSBC spiked 2.37 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slid 0.29 percent, JD.com cratered 2.94 percent, Lenovo Group slipped 0.52 percent, Meituan declined 1.14 percent, NetEase rallied 1.75 percent, Nongfu Spring dipped 0.28 percent, PetroChina added 0.59 percent, Ping An Insurance lost 0.61 percent, Semiconductor Manufacturing climbed 1.31 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties skidded 0.86 percent, Tencent Holdings retreated 1.80 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tumbled 1.82 percent, WuXi AppTec soared 2.49 percent, Zijin Mining tanked 2.09 percent and China Petroleum & Chemical was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened modestly higher on Thursday but accelerated late in the day to finish sharply higher.

The Dow soared 929.97 points or 1.86 percent to finish at 60,848.75, while the NASDAQ rallied 640.16 points or 2.54 percent to end at 25,809.66 and the S&P 500 jumped 127.31 points or 1.75 percent to end at 7,394.30.

The late-day rally on Wall Street came as crude oil prices plunged after President Donald Trump called off previously announced attacks against Iran.

Bargain hunting also contributed to the surge following the weakness seen during Wednesday's session, which dragged the NASDAQ and S&P 500 down to their lowest closing levels in a month.

Meanwhile, traders seemed to shrug off a report from the Labor Department showing producer prices increased by more than expected in May.

Crude oil prices plunged on Thursday after Trump recalled his earlier orders to attack Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was down $2.81 or 3.12 percent at $87.22 per barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will on Friday release Q1 numbers for industrial production and producer prices later today. In the previous three months, production was up 5.7 percent on year and producer prices rose an annual 9.5 percent.