Hong Kong Shares Tipped To Open In The Red On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Thursday ended the four-day losing streak in which it had surrendered almost 1,250 points or 4.7 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 25,835-point plateau and it's looking at a soft start on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on a declining outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished barely higher on Thursday following gains from the technology, property and financial companies.

For the day, the index added 4.92 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 25,835.57 after trading between 25,692.13 and 26,046.76.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group slumped 1.02 percent, while Alibaba Health Info expanded 1.75 percent, ANTA Sports rallied 2.15 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.82 percent, China Mengniu Dairy lost 0.27 percent, China Resources Land spiked 2.52 percent, CITIC strengthened 1.83 percent, CNOOC shed 0.45 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical jumped 1.98 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rose 0.40 percent, Haier Smart Home vaulted 1.49 percent, Hang Lung Properties and Hengan International both were up 0.22 percent, Henderson Land added 0.54 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas perked 0.14 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China climbed 1.24 percent, Lenovo advanced 0.93 percent, Li Auto tanked 1.75 percent, Li Ning soared 4.00 percent, Meituan gained 0.51 percent, New World Development accelerated 2.33 percent, Nongfu Spring retreated 1.55 percent, Techtronic Industries surged 5.36 percent, Xiaomi Corporation stumbled 2.89 percent, WuXi Biologics improved 0.88 percent and JD.com was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages were unable to hold early gains on Thursday and finished deeply under water.

The Dow stumbled 386.51 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 45,752.26, while the NASDAQ plummeted 486.18 points or 2.15 percent to close at 22,078.05 and the S&P 500 dropped 103.40 points or 1.56 percent to end at 6,538.76.

The early rally on Wall Street was a positive reaction to highly anticipated earnings news from market leader and AI darling Nvidia (NVDA), which reported better than expected third quarter results and providing upbeat guidance - although the stock tumbled later in the day.

The subsequent downturn by the broader markets reflected concerns about the outlook for interest rates after the release of the Labor Department's long-delayed jobs report for September. While the report showed an unexpected uptick by the unemployment rate, job growth in September far exceeded economist estimates.

The mixed data further eroded confidence that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates by another quarter point in December. While CME Group's FedWatch Tool indicates the chances of a rate cut next month have risen to 39.8 percent from 30.1 percent on Wednesday, that figure is down sharply from 98.8 percent a month ago.

Crude oil prices edged lower on Thursday as investors assessed reports of renewed efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war ahead of the U.S. deadline. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.27 or 0.44 percent at $59.18 per barrel.