Higher Open Anticipated For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Thursday's holiday for National Day, the Hong Kong stock market had moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day slide in which it had given up almost 600 points or 2.5 percent. The Hang Seng now sits just above the 24,610-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat with a touch of upside ahead of U.S. jobs data later today, while falling treasury yields nudge sentiment barely into the green. The European markets were sharply lower and the U.S. bourses were barely higher and the Asian markets are likely to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Wednesday as gains from the technology and industrial sectors were dented by weakness among the property and energy companies.

For the day, the index gained 89/70 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 24,613.27 after trading between 24,332.64 and 24,637.65.

The lead from Wall Street suggests very mild upside as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but quickly tumbled before recovering midday and hugging the line for the rest of the day.

The Dow rose 20.51 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 50,926.56, while the NASDAQ perked 10.53 points or 0.04 percent to close at 26,871.60 and the S&P 500 was up 14.91 points or 0.19 percent to end at 7,666.45.

The modestly higher close on Wall Street came as treasury yields showed a significant downturn after initially extending their recent upward trend. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note slumped into negative territory after reaching its highest levels since April 2002.

However, traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today.

Crude oil prices showed another substantial move to the upside on Thursday following reports that Chinese refiners have suspended oil product exports for October. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up $2.53 or 2.8 percent to $92.95 a barrel.