Hong Kong Shares Tipped To Bounce Higher On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market turned lower again on Thursday, one day after snapping the two-day slide in which it had dropped more than 600 points or 3.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just shy of the 17,373-point plateau although it's likely to see renewed support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, with bargain hunting expected among easing treasury yields. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Thursday with damage across the board, especially among the financials, properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index tumbled 238.84 points or 1.36 percent to finish at 17,373.03 after trading between 17,352.83 and 17,627.73.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group stumbled 1.78 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plunged 3.71 percent, ANTA Sports and Haier Smart Home both sank 1.47 percent, China Life Insurance skidded 1.64 percent, China Mengniu Dairy tanked 3.51 percent, China Resources Land dropped 1.63 percent, CITIC slid 0.85 percent, CNOOC rallied 1.47 percent, Country Garden surrendered 3.33 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical lost 1.04 percent, Galaxy Entertainment plummeted 5.73 percent, Hang Lung Properties slipped 0.39 percent, Henderson Land added 0.20 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas retreated 2.20 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 1.07 percent, JD.com slumped 2.03 percent, Lenovo was down 0.38 percent, Li Ning weakened 1.72 percent, Meituan tumbled 3.48 percent, New World Development dipped 0.41 percent, Techtronic Industries declined 3.11 percent and Xiaomi Corporation and WuXi Biologics both fell 1.01 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages shook off early weakness on Thursday and moved firmly higher, although ending well of the daily highs.

The Dow climbed 116.07 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 33,666.34, while the NASDAQ jumped 108.43 points or 0.83 percent to close at 13,201.28 and the S&P 500 rose 25.19 points or 0.59 percent to end at 4,299.70.

The strength on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting, as traders picked up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness.

A downturn by treasury yields also contributed to the strength among stocks, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note giving back ground after reaching its highest levels since October 2007.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said the pace of U.S. economic growth in the second quarter of 2023 was unrevised from the previous estimate. Also, the Labor Department noted a slight increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Oil futures failed to hold gains and fell sharply on Thursday, due largely on profit taking. Oil prices rose to one-year high earlier in the day after recent data showing a drop in crude inventories in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended down $1.97 or 2.1 percent at $91.71 a barrel.