Hong Kong Shares May Be Stuck In Neutral On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market bounced higher again on Thursday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 260 points or 1.5 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 17,790-point plateau and it's likely to see little movement on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key inflation data later in the day. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index added 93.87 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 17,786.32 after trading between 17,502.53 and 17,797.17.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group eased 0.06 percent, while Alibaba Health Info accelerated 2.46 percent, ANTA Sports jumped 1.94 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.36 percent, China Mengniu Dairy surged 9.65 percent, China Resources Land climbed 1.67 percent, CNOOC sank 0.47 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical spiked 2.55 percent, Galaxy Entertainment tumbled 1.97 percent, Hang Lung Properties dropped 0.68 percent, Henderson Land increased 0.82 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas gained 0.16 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China plunged 2.53 percent, Lenovo added 0.21 percent, Li Auto plummeted 9.75 percent, Li Ning soared 3.86 percent, Meituan skyrocketed 12.55 percent, New World Development advanced 1.05 percent, Nongfu Spring strengthened 1.85 percent, Techtronic Industries improved 0.86 percent, Xiaomi Corporation shed 0.42 percent, WuXi Biologics rallied 2.28 percent and CITIC and JD.com were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and spent much of the day solidly in the green - before a late slump saw them end mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 243.63 points or 0.59 percent to finish at a record 41,335.05, while the NASDAQ sank 39.60 points or 0.23 percent to close at 17,516.43 and the S&P 500 eased 0.22 points or 0.00 percent to end at 5,591.96.

The early strength on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to the latest U.S. economic data, including a Commerce Department report showing the U.S. economy unexpectedly grew more than previously estimated in the second quarter.

A separate report from the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged slightly lower last week.

Buying interest waned in the latter part of the session, however, as traders looked ahead to the release of closely watched readings on consumer price inflation later today.

The downturn by the tech-heavy NASDAQ also came as shares of Nvidia (NVDA) slumped even though the company reported Q2 results that exceeded expectations and forecast fiscal third quarter revenues above estimates.

Oil prices settled sharply higher on Thursday on supply concerns amid reports Libya has shut off production and halted exports at several ports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October climbed $1.39 or 1.87 percent at $75.91 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will release July data for retail sales later today; in June, sales were down 9.7 percent on year.