Hang Seng Tipped To Bounce Higher On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market headed south again on Thursday, one session after halting the six-day losing streak in which it had plummeted almost 1,100 points or 5.5 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 20,430-point plateau although it's expected to rebound again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism over inflation, demand and interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index tumbled 190.25 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 20,429.46 after trading between 20,321.25 and 20,548.57.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group plummeted 4.68 percent, while Alibaba Health Info shed 0.83 percent, ANTA Sports slid 0.46 percent, China Life Insurance added 0.57 percent, China Mengniu Dairy tumbled 1.93 percent, China Resources Land jumped 1.68 percent, CITIC sank 1.01 percent, CNOOC advanced 0.71 percent, Country Garden retreated 1.52 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical spiked 1.75 percent, Galaxy Entertainment tanked 1.95 percent, Hang Lung Properties slumped 1.41 percent, Henderson Land surrendered 1.76 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas fell 0.54 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.50 percent, JD.com plunged 2.29 percent, Lenovo declined 1.64 percent, Li Ning and Hengan International both were down 0.28 percent, Meituan dropped 1.05 percent, New World Development skidded 1.13 percent, Techtronic Industries surged 3.80 percent, Xiaomi Corporation lost 0.63 percent and WuXi Biologics weakened 1.20 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened mixed but trended steadily upward throughout the session, with all finishing firmly in the green.

The Dow surged 341.75 points or 1.05 percent to finish at 33,003.57, while the NASDAQ advanced 83.50 points or 0.73 percent to end at 11,462.98 and the S&P 500 gained 29.96 points or 0.76 percent to close at 3,981.35.

The surge by the Dow reflected a spike by shares of Salesforce (CRM), with the cloud-based software company soaring 11.5 percent on better than expected Q4 results and upbeat guidance.

The markets also rebounded on comments from Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic, who said he strongly favors raising interest rates in only quarter-point increments.

Traders largely shrugged off a continue surge in treasury yields, which followed the release of a Labor Department report unexpectedly showing a modest decline in initial jobless claims last week.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday, extending gains from the previous session as optimism about higher demand from China outweighed concerns about inflation and interest rate hikes. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for April settled at $78.16 a barrel, gaining $0.47 or 0.6 percent.