Higher Open Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, shedding more than 140 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 19,720-point plateau although it's got a firm lead for Monday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are predicted to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished slightly lower on Friday following mixed performances from the technology, oil and property sectors.

For the day, the index slipped 31.80 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 19,720.70 after trading between 19,692.68 and 19,875.90.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group plummeted 3.44 percent, while Alibaba Health Info slumped 0.58 percent, ANTA Sports spiked 1.77 percent, China Life Insurance dipped 0.14 percent, China Mengniu Dairy was up 0.11 percent, CITIC improved 0.34 percent, CNOOC tanked 1.21 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical added 0.63 percent, Galaxy Entertainment gained 0.44 percent, Haier Smart Home stumbled 1.11 percent, Hang Lung Properties advanced 0.65 percent, Henderson Land sank 0.21 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dropped 0.49 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.41 percent, JD.com plunged 3.03 percent, Lenovo rallied 1.18 percent, Li Auto soared 2.42 percent, Li Ning increased 0.24 percent, Meituan perked 0.13 percent, New World Development rose 0.39 percent, Nongfu Spring tumbled 1.15 percent, Techtronic Industries eased 0.10 percent, Xiaomi Corporation surged 2.76 percent, WuXi Biologics gathered 0.35 percent and China Resources Land and CLP Holdings were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened lower on Friday but quickly bounced up into the green and stayed that way for the balance of the session.

The Dow rallied 498.06 points or 1.18 percent to finish at 42,840.26, while the NASDAQ jumped 199.80 points or 1.03 percent to close at 19,572.60 and the S&P 500 gained 63.77 points or 1.09 percent to end at 5,930.85.

For the week, the Dow plunged 2.3 percent, the S&P 500 tumbled 2.0 percent and the NASDAQ slumped 1.8 percent.

The rally on Wall Street followed the release of the Commerce Department's report on personal consumption expenditures (PCE), which came in slower than expected.

As that is the Federal Reserve's preferred reading on consumer price inflation, the slower than expected growth inspired traders to pick up stocks at reduced levels following the mid-week sell-off.

Oil futures settled higher on Friday as the dollar came off two-year highs after soft PCE readings eased concerns about the outlook for interest rate cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures perked $0.08 or about 0.1 percent to $69.46 a barrel. Oil futures shed 2.5 percent in the week.