Hong Kong Shares Poised To Open To The Upside

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, improving more than 380 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 26,160-point plateau and it may open higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares and technology stocks, while the properties were mixed.

For the day, the index gained 192.17 points or 0.74 percent to finish at 26,160.15 after trading between 26,063.99 and 26,239.96.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group fell 0.17 percent, while Alibaba Health Info rallied 2.25 percent, ANTA Sports and Hang Lung Properties both gained 0.23 percent, China Life Insurance climbed 1.22 percent, China Mengniu Dairy dropped 0.42 percent, China Resources Land shed 0.20 percent, CITIC added 0.43 percent, CNOOC improved 0.50 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical plummeted 3.90 percent, Galaxy Entertainment soared 2.58 percent, Haier Smart Home jumped 1.36 percent, Henderson Land advanced 0.94 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas sank 0.28 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.17 percent, JD.com perked 0.08 percent, Lenovo spiked 2.31 percent, Li Auto stumbled 2.07 percent, Li Ning tanked 2.05 percent, Meituan expanded 0.60 percent, New World Development eased 0.13 percent, Nongfu Spring slumped 0.92 percent, Techtronic Industries surged 3.01 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tumbled 1.75 percent and WuXi Biologics accelerated 2.14 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is strong as the major averages opened solidly higher on Friday and remained well in the green throughout the trading day and all hit fresh record closing highs.

The Dow jumped 472.52 points or 1.01 percent to finish at 47,207.12, while the NASDAQ rallied 263.07 points or 1.15 percent to end at 23,204.87 and the S&P 500 added 53.25 points or 0.79 percent to close at 6,791.69.

The rally on Wall Street followed the release of a closely watched report on consumer price inflation that increased confidence that the Federal Reserve will continue cutting interest rates in the coming months.

While most U.S. economic data has been postponed indefinitely due to the ongoing government shutdown, the Labor Department released a report showing consumer prices increased less than expected in September.

Buying interest was also generated in reaction to upbeat earnings news from big-name companies like Ford (F), Procter & Gamble (PG) and Intel (INTC).

Crude oil prices dipped Friday on profit taking following large gains a day earlier. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery slipped $0.17 or 0.3 percent to $61.62 per barrel; for the week, crude surged 7.8 percent.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will release September figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In August, imports were up 11.5 percent on year and exports rose an annual 14.5 percent for a trade deficit of HKD25.4 billion.