Higher Open Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Friday snapped the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 380 points or 1.8 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 20,500-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on solid earnings news and renewed optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares and mixed performances from the technology and property sectors.

For the day, the index jumped 189.13 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 20,506.43 after trading between 20,353.30 and 20,667.20.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group slumped 0.89 percent, while Alibaba Health Info retreated 1.52 percent, ANTA Sports added 0.54 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.37 percent, China Mengniu Dairy soared 5.11 percent, China Resources Land surged 6.36 percent, CITIC gained 0.33 percent, CNOOC strengthened 2.00 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical plummeted 11,13 percent, Galaxy Entertainment eased 0.14 percent, Haier Smart Home declined 1.38 percent, Hang Lung Properties jumped 2.44 percent, Henderson Land rose 0.20 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas and Hengan International both skidded 0.65 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rallied 2.81 percent, JD.com improved 1.41 percent, Lenovo tumbled 1.90 percent, Li Auto plunged 10.59 percent, Meituan climbed 1.57 percent, New World Development tanked 2.23 percent, Nongfu Spring advanced 1.03 percent, Techtronic Industries dropped 0.53 percent, Xiaomi Corporation spiked 5.00 percent, WuXi Biologics sank 0.24 percent and Li Ning was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow jumped 288.73 points or 0.69 percent to finish at 42,052.19, while the NASDAQ added 144.77 points of 0.80 percent to end at 18,239.92 and the S&P 500 rose 23.35 points or 0.41 percent to close at 5,728.80.

For the week, the Dow eased 0.2 percent, the S&P slumped 1.4 percent and the NASDAQ stumbled 1.5 percent.

The strength on Wall Street reflected a positive reaction to upbeat earnings news from big-name companies like Intel (INTC) and Amazon (AMZN).

Traders also digested the Labor Department's closely watched jobs report, which showed weaker than expected job growth in October. The data raised some concerns about the strength of the economy, but the report also led to renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

Oil futures settled modestly higher on Friday amid concerns about tensions in the Middle East after a report said Iran is planning further attacks on Israel. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $0.23 or 0.33 percent at $69.49 a barrel.