Hong Kong Shares May Take Further Damage On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Friday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had jumped almost 750 points or 3 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 26,160-point plateau and it's likely to open in the red again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is gloomy after the Strait of Hormuz was shut down again over the weekend. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher on Friday, but the Asian bourses are now expected to open under pressure on Monday.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the technology stocks and properties, while the financial sector came in mixed.

For the day, the index slumped 233.93 points or 0.89 percent to finish at 26,160.33 after trading between 26,015.44 and 26,280.96.

Among the actives, AIA tanked 3.15 percent, while Alibaba Group added 0.44 percent, Baidu and China Life Insurance both declined 1.14 percent, Bank of China lost 0.39 percent, BOC Hong Kong eased 0.05 percent, China Construction Bank jumped 1.52 percent, China Merchants Bank stumbled 1.46 percent, China Mobile was down 0.18 percent, China Petroleum & Chemical sank 0.87 percent, China Shenhua Energy shed 0.22 percent, CITIC slumped 1.00 percent, CNOOC rallied 1.05 percent, Hong Kong Exchange dropped 0.63 percent, HSBC fell 0.56 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.57 percent, JD.com declined 0.97 percent, Meituan tumbled 2.54 percent, NetEase surrendered 2.30 percent, Nongfu Spring skidded 0.99 percent, PetroChina gained 0.75 percent, Ping An Insurance plunged 3.27 percent, Semiconductor Manufacturing, Sun Hung Kai Properties plummeted 4.04 percent, Tencent Holdings retreated 1.26 percent, Xiaomi Corporation dipped 0.19 percent, WuXi AppTec cratered 5.90 percent and Zijin Mining crashed 3.17 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is strong as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained firmly in the green throughout the trading day, ending at session highs.

The Dow jumped 868.71 points or 1.79 percent to finish at 49.447.43, while the NASDAQ rallied 365.78 points or 1.52 percent to end at 24,468.48 and the S&P 500 gained 84.78 points or 1.20 percent to close at 7,126.06.

For the week, the NASDAQ skyrocketed 6.8 percent, the S&P 500 soared 4.9 percent and the Dow spiked 3.2 percent.

The rally on Wall Street came following news that Iran has declared the Strait of Hormuz completely open to commercial traffic on the heels of the 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.

The news of the temporary reopening of the strait led to a nosedive by the price of crude oil, easing supply-related concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was down $11.17 or 10.58 percent at $84.11 per barrel.

The strength on Wall Street may also have reflected optimism about the strength of corporate earnings ahead of the quarterly results from several big-name companies this week.