Higher Open Expected For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Friday ended the four-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 1,300 points or 1.6 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 21,000-point plateau, although it's expected to climb back above that level in Monday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly positive on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the technology stocks and a mixed bag from the property sector.

For the day, the index dropped 60.56 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 20,991.64 after trading between 20,862.77 and 21,282.71.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group rallied 2.01 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plummeted 4.97 percent, ANTA Sports declined 2.78 percent, China Resources Land jumped 1.85 percent, CITIC stumbled 1.42 percent, CNOOC gained 0.30 percent, Country Garden soared 2,57 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical advanced 1.04 percent, Galaxy Entertainment tanked 3.50 percent, Hang Lung Properties sank 0.52 percent, Henderson Land added 0.36 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rose 0.26 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 0.24 percent, JD.com climbed 1.05 percent, Lenovo dropped 0.78 percent, Li Ning and ENN Energy both lost 0.41 percent, Meituan plunged 4.25 percent, New World Development skidded 0.86 percent, Techtronic Industries slumped 1.72 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tumbled 3.27 percent, WuXi Biologics retreated 2.15 percent and China Life Insurance and China Mengniu Dairy were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but only accelerated as the day continued, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 700.51 points or 2.13 percent to finish at 33,630.61, while the NASDAQ soared 264.09 points or 2.56 percent to end at 10,569.29 and the S&P 500 jumped 86.98 points or 2.28 percent to close at 3,895.08.

Stocks rallied as investors hoped that the report from the Institute for Supply Management showing U.S. service sector activity unexpectedly contracted in December will convince the Federal Reserve to slow its aggressive pace on interest rate hikes.

Adding to the positive sentiment, the Labor Department reported that employment increased more than expected in December, while the jobless rate fell to a 50-year low.

Crude oil prices settled flat on Friday as fears of a global recession raised concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled at $73.77 a barrel, up just 10 cents from the previous close.