Hong Kong Shares Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - Ahead of the long Easter weekend, the Hong Kong stock market had bounced higher again on Thursday, one session after halting the six-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 1,600 points or 7.8 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just shy of the 21,400-point plateau although it's expected to open sharply lower on Tuesday as it catches up on missed sentiment.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on continuing concerns over the possibility of a trade war. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Thursday with gains across the board, especially among the technology stocks and properties.

For the day, the index rallied 338.16 points or 1.61 percent to finish at 21,395.14 after trading between 21,039.16 and 21,417.64.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group surged 3.13 percent, while Alibaba Health Info advanced 1.33 percent, ANTA Sports soared 2.86 percent, China Life Insurance increased 1.19 percent, China Mengniu Dairy slumped 1.32 percent, China Resources Land jumped 2.05 percent, CITIC added 0.90 percent, CNOOC rallied 2.19 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical accelerated 2.39 percent, Galaxy Entertainment spiked 2.63 percent, Haier Smart Home was up 0.23 percent, Hang Lung Properties gathered 0.33 percent, Henderson Land and Xiaomi Corporation both jumped 1.70 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas gained 0.88 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 1.52 percent, JD.com rose 0.58 percent, Lenovo surged 2.41 percent, Li Auto accelerated 3.28 percent, Li Ning perked 0.27 percent, Meituan improved 1.19 percent, New World Development soared 2.23 percent, Nongfu Spring spiked 1.95 percent, Techtronic Industries rallied 1.60 percent, WuXi Biologics climbed 1.49 percent and Hengan International was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened sharply lower on Monday and remained deep in the red throughout the session.

The Dow plummeted 971.82 points or 2.48 percent to finish at 38,170.41, while the NASDAQ tumbled 415.55 points or 2.55 percent to close at 16,870.37 and the S&P 500 dropped 124.50 points or 2.36 percent to end at 5,158.20.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid lingering concerns about a global trade war as traders await signs of progress from President Donald Trump's trade talks.

Potentially adding to the worries, China has threatened to retaliate against any countries that reach a trade deal with the U.S. at the expense of China's interests.

Trump's continued attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell added to the negative sentiment; he called on the Fed to lower rates last week, declaring, "Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!"

Crude oil prices pulled back sharply Monday on reports of progress in negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, while trade war concerns also weighed. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery plunged $1.60 or 2.5 percent to $63.08 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide March data for unemployment later today; in February, the jobless rate was 3.2 percent.