Consolidation Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in seven straight sessions, gaining more than 1,470 points or 5.5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 27,970-point plateau although it's overdue for consolidation on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amidst profit taking and contrasting earnings news. The European and U.S. markets were mixed with a touch of weakness, and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index gained 141.18 points or 0.51 percent to finish at 27,968.09 after trading between 27,611.90 and 28,056.10.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group eased 0.12 percent, while Alibaba Health Info stumbled 2.49 percent, ANTA Sports surged 4.81 percent, China Life Insurance climbed 0.97 percent, China Mengniu Dairy accelerated 2.89 percent, China Resources Land soared 4.63 percent, CITIC rallied 2.62 percent, CNOOC strengthened 1.30 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical expanded 1.33 percent, Galaxy Entertainment plunged 4.03 percent, Haier Smart Home jumped 2.10 percent, Hang Lung Properties shed 0.43 percent, Henderson Land vaulted 1.34 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas fell 0.14 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.76 percent, JD.com tumbled 1.46 percent, Lenovo lost 0.22 percent, Li Auto dropped 1.17 percent, Li Ning spiked 3.66 percent, Meituan added 0.25 percent, New World Development skyrocketed 7.33 percent, Nongfu Spring dropped 0.84 percent, Techtronic Industries sank 0.75 percent, Xiaomi Corporation advanced 0.83 percent and WuXi Biologics slumped 1.04 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and then mostly hugged the line before ending mixed.

The Dow rose 55.96 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 49,071.56, while the NASDAQ slumped 172.33 points or 0.72 percent to end at 23,685.12 and the S&P 500 dipped 9.02 points or 0.13 percent to close at 6,969.01.

The early sell-off on Wall Street came amid a steep drop by shares of Microsoft (MSFT) after the company reported slowing cloud computing growth in its fiscal second quarter and provided disappointing third quarter guidance.

Profit taking may also have contributed to the early weakness after the S&P 500 briefly peeked above the 7,000 level for the first time during Wednesday's session.

A strong performance by shares of Meta Platforms (META) may have limited the downside after the Facebook parent reported better than expected fourth quarter results and forecast first quarter revenues above estimates.

Crude oil prices spiked on Thursday as Iran shrugged off U.S. threats to negotiate or face attack, causing concerns over possible supply disruptions. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $2.23 or 3.53 percent at $65.44 per barrel.