Hong Kong Bourse May Add To Its Winnings On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has climbed higher in two straight sessions, advancing almost 200 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 15,950-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive as soft U.S. economic data reinforced the case for an interest rate cut in June. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Thursday as gains from the financials and technology stocks were capped by weakness from the property sector.

For the day, the index added 65.25 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 15,944.63 after trading between 15,751.36 and 16,029.02.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group advanced 0.71 percent, while Alibaba Health Info and Xiaomi Corporation both accelerated 1.27 percent, ANTA Sports spiked 1.93 percent, China Life Insurance rallied 1.18 percent, China Resources Land lost 0.42 percent, CITIC sank 0.65 percent, CNOOC rose 0.14 percent, ENN Energy stumbled 1.58 percent, Galaxy Entertainment gained 0.34 percent, Hang Lung Properties slumped 1.22 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas jumped 1.23 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.78 percent, JD.com surged 2.41 percent, Lenovo soared 2.21 percent, Li Ning skyrocketed 5.58 percent, Meituan added 0.35 percent, New World Development retreated 1.28 percent, Techtronic Industries dipped 0.18 percent, WuXi Biologics tumbled 1.91 percent and Country Garden, CSPC Pharmaceutical, China Mengniu Dairy and Henderson Land were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened mixed on Thursday but climbed steadily throughout the day so that they all ended in the green.

The Dow jumped 348.85 points or 0.91 percent to finish at 38,773.12, while the NASDAQ added 47.03 points or 0.30 percent to close at 15,906.17 and the S&P 500 rose 29.11 points or 0.58 percent to end at 5,029.73.

The higher close on Wall Street came after a Commerce Department report showing a much bigger than expected decrease in U.S. retail sales in January led to renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

The Federal Reserve also released a report showing industrial production in the U.S. unexpectedly edged slightly lower in January.

Crude oil futures ended higher on Thursday as the dollar weakened after the weak retail sales data raised hopes of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve in June. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March rallied $1.39 or 1.8 percent at $78.03 a barrel.