Continued Consolidation Anticipated For Hong Kong Stocks

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in consecutive trading days, surrendering almost 350 points or 2 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index sits just above the 17,740-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative after better than expected U.S. employment data raised grace concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are also tipped to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Friday with damage across the board, especially among the financials, properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index tumbled 272.15 points or 1.51 percent to finish at 17,740.05 after trading between 17,717.73 and 17,881.87.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group skidded 2.16 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plunged 4.69 percent, ANTA Sports slipped 0.66 percent, China Life Insurance was down 0.59 percent, China Mengniu Dairy dropped 1.99 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) fell 0.58 percent, China Resources Land sank 1.85 percent, CITIC slid 0.53 percent, CNOOC rose 0.10 percent, Country Garden tumbled 3.45 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical added 0.13 percent, Galaxy Entertainment eased 0.51 percent, Hang Lung Properties shed 1.76 percent, Henderson Land weakened 2.19 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas lost 1.40 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 0.79 percent, JD.com tanked 3.58 percent, Lenovo retreated 2.99 percent, Li Ning fell 0.96 percent, Longfor plummeted 8.69 percent, Meituan slumped 2.37 percent, New World Development stumbled 2.29 percent, Techtronic Industries slid 0.86 percent, Xiaomi Corporation surrendered 3.30 percent and WuXi Biologics declined 3.12 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened deep in the red and only worsened as the day progressed.

The Down plunged 630.11 points or 2.11 percent to finish at 29,296.79, while the NASDAQ sank 289.14 points or 3.80 percent to end at 10,652.40 and the S&P 500 slumped 104.86 points or 2.80 percent to close at 3,639.66. For the week, the Dow surged 2.0 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 1.5 percent and the NASDAQ climbed 0.7 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came following the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report, which failed to ease concerns about the outlook for interest rates by coming in stronger than economists had anticipated.

The unemployment rate matched its lowest level since just before Covid-19 lockdowns began to take effect in February 2020, which was also matched in July. Unemployment has not been lower in over 50 years.

Treasury yields advanced following the release of the report, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note moving higher for the third straight session.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Friday, continuing to find support from the OPEC decision last week to cut output by 2 million barrels per day. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended higher by $4.19 or 4.7 percent at $92.64 a barrel, settling at a five-week high.