Higher Open Predicted For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Friday ended the five-day winning streak in which it had rallied almost 1,300 points or 5.1 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 25,390-point plateau although it's likely to open in the green again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat after the U.S. and the European Union ratified a trade agreement over the weekend. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Friday as the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies were mostly in the red.

For the day, the index dropped 278.85 points or 1.09 percent to finish at 25,388.35 after trading between 25,355.31 and 25,585.73.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group tanked 1.91 percent, while Alibaba Health Info lost 0.41 percent, ANTA Sports slipped 0.33 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 1.79 percent, China Mengniu Dairy contracted 1.27 percent, China Resources Land climbed 1.18 percent, CITIC slumped 1.13 percent, CNOOC was up 0.10 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical rose 0.12 percent, Galaxy Entertainment skidded 1.05 percent, Haier Smart Home tumbled 1.34 percent, Hang Lung Properties fell 0.40 percent, Henderson Land advanced 0.92 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas shed 0.57 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dropped 0.98 percent, JD.com plunged 2.10 percent, Lenovo added 0.38 percent, Li Auto declined 1.60 percent, Li Ning retreated 1.73 percent, Meituan plummeted 3.20 percent, New World Development stumbled 1.81 percent, Nongfu Spring soared 3.56 percent, Techtronic Industries sank 0.93 percent, Xiaomi Corporation surrendered 1.80 percent and WuXi Biologics surged 5.53 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and tracked mostly higher throughout the session, sending the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 to fresh record closing highs.

The Dow jumped 208.02 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 44,901.92, while the NASDAQ added 50.32 points or 0.24 percent to close at 21,108.32 and the S&P 500 gained 25.29 points or 0.40 percent to end at 6,388.64.

The strength on Wall Street came on optimism that a number of trade deals will be worked out prior to President Donald Trump's August 1 deadline for the extension of his "reciprocal tariffs."

With only a few days left, several trading partners are trying to reach an agreement with the U.S. to avoid high tariff imposition on their exports to the U.S. from August 1; the U.S. and the EU have since reached an agreement over the weekend.

Crude oil fell on Friday on reports that the U.S. might allow partners of Venezuela's state-run PDVSA to resume operations, sparking concerns of over-supply. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery closed, down $0.88 or 1.33 percent to $65.15 per barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will see June numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In May, imports were up 18.9 percent on month and exports rose 15.5 percent for a trade deficit of HKD27.3 billion.