Higher Open Predicted For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has climbed higher in four straight sessions, spiking more than 830 points or 4.3 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 20,400-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on good inflation news and an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the financials, technology stocks and properties

For the day, the index added 91.01 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 20,400.11 after trading between 20,357.41 and 20,721.97.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group spiked 3.61 percent, while Alibaba Health Info tumbled 2.24 percent, ANTA Sports plunged 2.40 percent, China Life Insurance soared 3.86 percent, China Mengniu Dairy slumped 1.23 percent, China Resources Land tanked 2.32 percent, CITIC eased 0.11 percent, CNOOC skidded 0.68 percent, Country Garden plummeted 5.96 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical rallied 2.80 percent, Galaxy Entertainment strengthened 1.65 percent, Hang Lung Properties fell 0.14 percent, Henderson Land added 0.47 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas lost 0.29 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China declined 2.11 percent, JD.com surged 5.39 percent, Lenovo and CK Infrastructure both climbed 1.07 percent, Li Ning jumped 1.89 percent, Meituan advanced 1.06 percent, New World Development dropped 0.47 percent, Techtronic Industries retreated 1.45 percent, Xiaomi Corporation and Nongfu Spring both sank 0.33 percent and WuXi Biologics stumbled 1.42 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened higher on Friday and picked up steam as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow soared 415.15 points or 1.26 percent to finish at 33,274.15, while the NASDAQ jumped 208.41 points or 1.73 percent to end at 12,221.91 and the S&P 500 rallied 58.48 points or 1.44 percent to close at 4,109.31.

For the week, the S&P soared 3.5 percent, the NASDAQ accelerated 3.4 percent and the Dow climbed 3.2 percent.

The rally on Wall Street followed the release of a Commerce Department report showing an unexpected slowdown in the annual rate of core consumer price growth.

With this inflation reading said to be preferred by the Fed, the data led to some optimism the central bank will hold off on raising interest rates at its next meeting in early May.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday on falling supplies and optimism about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.30 or 1.8 percent at $75.67 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 9.2 percent in the week but dropped 1.8 percent in March and 6 percent in Q1.