Hong Kong Bourse Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the four-day winning streak in which it had rallied almost 825 points or 3.5 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 26,570-point plateau and it may take further damage on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the insurance companies, entertainment stocks, properties and technology shares.

For the day, the index stumbled 500.57 points or 1.85 percent to finish at 26,572.46 after trading between 26,535.42 and 26,881.88.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group plunged 4.38 percent, while Alibaba Health Info rose 0.17 percent, ANTA Sports retreated 2.15 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 3.25 percent, China Mengniu Dairy skidded 1.78 percent, China Resources Land slipped 0.65 percent, CITIC dropped 1.70 percent, CNOOC dipped 0.36 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical eased 0.13 percent, Galaxy Entertainment shed 1.48 percent, Haier Smart Home surrendered 2.17 percent, Hang Lung Properties fell 0.96 percent, Henderson Land added 0.20 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas slid 0.27 percent, JD.com cratered 6.03 percent, Lenovo plummeted 3.31 percent, Li Auto tumbled 2.27 percent, Li Ning slumped 1.79 percent, Meituan contracted 2.06 percent, New World Development sank 1.55 percent, Nongfu Spring lost 1.36 percent, Techtronic Industries declined 2.11 percent, Xiaomi Corporation stumbled 2.62 percent, WuXi Biologics crashed 3.36 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened lower on Friday but hugged the line for most of the day before ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 309.74 points or 0.65 percent to finish t 47,147.48, while the NASDAQ rose 30.23 points or 0.13 percent to close at 22,900.59 and the S&P 500 dipped 3.38 points or 0.05 percent to end at 6,734.11. For the week, the NASDAQ dipped 0.5 percent, the Dow rose 0.3 percent and the S&P perked 0.1 percent.

Weakness among technology stocks continued to weigh on Wall Street early in the session amid lingering valuation concerns. However, gains from tech heavyweights Nvidia (NVDA), Palantir Technologies (PLTR) and Tesla (TSLA) dragged the NASDAQ into the green.

While some traders used the initial slump as an opportunity to pick up stocks at reduced levels, buying interest remained somewhat subdued amid uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.

Recent comments from Federal Reserve officials and indications that key U.S. economic data may never be released due to the government shutdown have reduced confidence that the central bank will lower interest rates next month.

Crude oil prices rallied on Friday after a Ukrainian drone attack damaged an oil depot in the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $1.28 or 2.2 percent at $59.97 a barrel.