Hong Kong Shares May Halt Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, slumping more than 100 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 18,380-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished slightly lower on Friday as losses from the property and technology sectors were mitigated by support from the financials.

For the day, the index eased 0.04 points or 0.00 percent to finish at 18,382.06 after trading between 18,312.76 and 18,667.18.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group fell 0.17 percent, while Alibaba Health Info weakened 1.49 percent, ANTA Sports skidded 1.28 percent, China Mengniu Dairy skyrocketed 5.60 percent, China Resources Land declined 2.21 percent, CITIC dropped 1.27 percent, CNOOC spiked 1.36 percent, Country Garden retreated 2.17 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical shed 0.67 percent, Galaxy Entertainment added 0.39 percent, Hang Lung Properties sank 1.13 percent, Henderson Land stumbled 1.82 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.84 percent, JD.com tumbled 2.28 percent, Lenovo surged 2.42 percent, Li Ning tanked 3.01 percent, Meituan plunged 4.25 percent, New World Development surrendered 2.23 percent, Techtronic Industries slumped 1.52 percent, Xiaomi Corporation lost 0.80 percent, WuXi Biologics plummeted 4.54 percent and China Life Insurance and Hong Kong & China Gas were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is slightly higher as the major averages opened higher but quickly faded and hugged the unchanged line, finally ending mixed.

The Dow climbed 115.81 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 34,837.71, while the NASDAQ eased 3.19 points or 0.02 percent to close at 14,031.81 and the S&P 500 rose 8.11 points or 0.18 percent to end at 4,515.77. For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 3.3 percent, the S&P 500 surged 2.5 percent and the Dow jumped 1.4 percent.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street followed the release of a mixed employment from the Labor Department. While the closely watched report showed modestly stronger than expected job growth in August, the report also showed an unexpected increase in the unemployment rate.

The increase in the unemployment rate added to optimism about the Federal Reserve leaving interest rates unchanged later this month, but traders continued to express some uncertainty about future meetings.

In other economic news, the Institute for Supply Management reported a slowdown in the pace of contraction in U.S. manufacturing activity last month.

Crude oil showed another significant move to the upside during trading on Friday, extending recent gains over supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery surged $1.92 or 2.3 percent to $85.55 a barrel, closing higher for the seventh straight session. The price of crude oil soared 7.2 percent for the week.