Hong Kong Shares May Run Out Of Steam On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, jumping more than 700 points or 4 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 17,040-point plateau although it's likely to open under pressure on Friday.

The global forecast suggests little movement ahead of the end of the year, although some profit taking is possible. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Thursday with gains in all sectors, most notably the financials, properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index surged 418.69 points or 2.52 percent to finish at 17,043.53 after trading between 16,644.43 and 17,086.10.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group strengthened 2.78 percent, while Alibaba Health Info surged 6.60 percent, ANTA Sports accelerated 4.67 percent, China Life Insurance spiked 4.61 percent, China Mengniu Dairy and CSPC Pharmaceutical both rallied 3.74 percent, China Resources Land soared 4.87 percent, CITIC improved 2.35 percent, CNOOC gained 1.25 percent, Country Garden skyrocketed 7.41 percent, Galaxy Entertainment jumped 3.43 percent, Hang Lung Properties advanced 2.48 percent, Henderson Land climbed 2.77 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas added 2.05 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 1.07 percent, JD.com accelerated 5.04 percent, Lenovo rallied 2.62 percent, Li Ning surged 6.20 percent, Meituan soared 5.17 percent, New World Development rose 0.67 percent, Techtronic Industries perked 0.43 percent, Xiaomi Corporation fell 0.25 percent and WuXi Biologics spiked 5.09 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but faded as the day progressed, finishing mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 53.58 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 37,710.10, while the NASDAQ dipped 4.04 points or 0.03 percent to close at 15,095.14 and the S&P 500 rose 1.77 points or 0.04 percent to end at 4,783.35.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came after the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week. Also, the National Association of Realtors said pending home sales were unexpectedly unchanged in November.

While the data added to optimism about the outlook for interest rates, traders remained reluctant to make significant moves going into the end of the year.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Thursday on easing concerns about trade disruptions after several shipping companies resumed transit via the Red Sea. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended down $2.34 or 3 percent at $71.77 a barrel.