Hong Kong Shares May Challenge 20,000-Point Level

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, collecting more than 700 points or 3.7 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 19,580-point plateau and it's got another green light for Monday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were solidly higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher again on Friday following gains from the property, entertainment and technology companies.

For the day, the index improved 61.16 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 19,584.06 after trading between 19,423.70 and 19,640.37.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group perked 0.37 percent, while Alibaba Health Info rose 0.61 percent, ANTA Sports slumped 1.39 percent, China Life Insurance climbed 1.63 percent, China Mengniu Dairy strengthened 1.74 percent, China Resources Land rallied 2.21 percent, CITIC gathered 0.47 percent, CNOOC dropped 0.91 percent, Galaxy Entertainment moved up 0.32 percent, Haier Smart Home improved 1.59 percent, Hang Lung Properties soared 3.30 percent, Henderson Land spiked 2.75 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas added 0.83 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China tumbled 1.60 percent, JD.com surged 4.71 percent, Lenovo lost 0.65 percent, Li Auto increased 1.58 percent, Li Ning sank 0.90 percent, Meituan was up 0.14 percent, New World Development gained 0.69 percent, Nongfu Spring shed 0.86 percent, Techtronic Industries accelerated 2.24 percent, Xiaomi Corporation jumped 1.75 percent, WuXi Biologics advanced 1.24 percent and CSPC Pharmaceutical was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly upbeat as the major averages opened solidly higher on Friday and stayed that way throughout the trading day, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 334.73 points or 0.78 percent to finish at 43,487.83, while the NASDAQ rallied 291.90 points or 1.51 percent to close at 19.630.20 and the S&P 500 advanced 59.30 points or 1.00 percent to end at 5,996.66.

For the week, the Dow soared 3.7 percent, the S&P jumped 2.9 percent and the NASDAQ climbed 2.5 percent.

Stocks benefitted from the recent decrease by treasury yields even as the yield on the benchmark ten-year note recovered from an early slump to end the day roughly flat. The recent retreat by treasury yields came as the U.S. inflation data released over the past few days led to renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

Adding to the interest rate optimism, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller told CNBC the central bank could lower interest rates multiple times this year if inflation eases as he is expecting.

Crude oil prices showed a notable move to the downside on Friday, extending the sharp pullback seen in the previous session. West Texas Intermediate for February delivery was down $0.80 or 1 percent to $77.88 a barrel on Friday; for the week, crude rose about 1 percent.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will see unemployment data for December later today, with the jobless rate expected to hold steady at 3.1 percent.