Higher Open Predicted For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, tumbling more than 700 points or 4.3 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 16,210-point plateau although it's due for support on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on falling treasury yields and optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the properties, gains from the oil companies and a mixed picture from the technology stocks.

For the day, the index lost 69.10 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 16,211.12 after trading between 16,137.18 and 16,359.04.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group lost 0.43 percent, while Alibaba Health Info climbed 1.42 percent, ANTA Sports jumped 1.56 percent, China Life Insurance shed 0.62 percent, China Mengniu Dairy fell 0.34 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rallied 1.76 percent, China Resources Land advanced 1.14 percent, CITIC gained 0.68 percent, CNOOC increased 0.71 percent, Country Garden soared 3.15 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical spiked 2.65 percent, Galaxy Entertainment stumbled 1.12 percent, Hang Lung Properties plummeted 4.21 percent, Henderson Land slumped 1.15 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas plunged 3.57 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 1.09 percent, JD.com added 0.80 percent, Lenovo improved 1.05 percent, Li Ning tanked 3.25 percent, Longfor surged 3.47 percent, Meituan rose 0.57 percent, New World Development tumbled 1.92 percent, Techtronic Industries retreated 1.26 percent, Xiaomi Corporation strengthened 1.54 percent and WuXi Biologics declined 1.29 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened barely in the red on Friday but quickly moved higher and accelerated as the day progressed.

The Dow surged 748.96 points or 2.47 percent to finish at 31,082.56, while the NASDAQ soared 244.92 points or 2.31 percent to end at 10,859.72 and the S&P 500 jumped 86.97 points or 2.37 percent to close at 3,752.75.

For the week, the NASDAQ surged 5.2 percent, the Dow spiked 4.9 percent and the S&P accelerated 4.7 percent.

The rally on Wall Street came as treasury yields showed a notable downturn after extending a recent surge in early trading. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note finished the day modestly lower after spiking to a fifteen-year intraday high earlier in the session.

The pullback by yields came after a report from the Wall Street Journal suggested Fed officials are likely to debate whether and how to signal plans for a smaller rate hike in December following a widely expected 75 basis point increase in early November.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Friday amid hopes demand for oil in China will see an increase soon. A likely ban on Russian oil by the European Union and a weak dollar also fueled oil's uptick. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $0.54 or 0.6 percent at $85.05 a barrel.