Hong Kong Shares Poised To Open To The Upside On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, advancing more than 325 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 26,085-point plateau and it may see mild upside again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Friday as the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies ended mostly in the green.

For the day, the index climbed 149.18 points or 0.58 percent to finish at 26,085.08 after trading between 25,758.17 and 26,131.61.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group added 0.39 percent, while Alibaba Health Info shed 0.91 percent, ANTA Sports slipped 0.24 percent, China Life Insurance surged 5.46 percent, China Mengniu Dairy fell 0.74 percent, China Resources Land gained 0.34 percent, CITIC increased 0.41 percent, CNOOC expanded 0.82 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical and JD.com both vaulted 0.78 percent, Galaxy Entertainment stumbled 1.34 percent, Haier Smart Home lost 0.88 percent, Henderson Land was down 0.14 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dropped 1.10 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China jumped 1.77 percent, Lenovo rallied 1.21 percent, Li Auto improved 0.72 percent, Li Ning rose 0.18 percent, Meituan climbed 0.97 percent, New World Development soared 4.87 percent, Nongfu Spring eased 0.12 percent, Techtronic Industries advanced 0.95 percent, Xiaomi Corporation spiked 1.91 percent, WuXi Biologics sank 0.97 percent and Hang Lung Properties was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and bounced up and down all day but always remained in the green.

The Dow added 104.05 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 47,954.99, while the NASDAQ gained 72.99 points or 0.31 percent to close at 23,578.13 and the S&P 500 rose 13.28 points or 0.19 percent to end at 6,870.40.

For the week, the NASDAQ added 0.9 percent, the Dow climbed 0.5 percent and the S&P rose 0.3 percent.

The modest strength on Wall Street followed the release of closely watched consumer price inflation data that was in line with estimates, reinforcing recent optimism about the outlook for interest rates ahead of this week's Federal Reserve meeting.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is indicating an 87.2 percent chance the Fed will lower interest rates by another quarter point this week.

Crude oil prices edged higher on Friday on persistent geopolitical tension due to the Russia-Ukraine war and the U.S.-Venezuela standoff. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was up $0.35 or 0.59 percent at $60.02 per barrel.