Hong Kong Shares Tipped To Open To The Upside On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 525 points or 2.6 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 20,900-point plateau and it's expected to open in the green again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests support ahead of key U.S. employment data later in the day. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index rallied 294.53 points or 1.43 percent to finish at the daily high of 20,891.62 after trading as low as 20,532.06.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group gathered 1.03 percent, while Alibaba Health Info added 1.62 percent, ANTA Sports climbed 1.95 percent, China Life Insurance rallied 2.63 percent, China Mengniu Dairy increased 2.00 percent, China Resources Land picked up 0.22 percent, CITIC strengthened 2.39 percent, CNOOC rose 1.29 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical jumped 2.47 percent, Galaxy Entertainment slumped 1.00 percent, Hang Lung Properties advanced 1.67 percent, Henderson Land was up 0.46 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas gained 1.52 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.56 percent, JD.com gathered 0.77 percent, Lenovo soared 5.12 percent, Li Auto skyrocketed 6.08 percent, Li Ning moved up 0.12 percent, Meituan dropped 0.53 percent, New World Development perked 0.49 percent, Nongfu Spring accelerated 3.16 percent, Techtronic Industries spiked 3.38 percent, Xiaomi Corporation improved 2.27 percent, WuXi Biologics surged 5.22 percent and Haier Smart Home was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher, although the Dow quickly turned lower and spent the rest of the day in the red.

The Dow stumbled 125.65 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 44,747.63, while the NASDAQ advanced 99.66 points or 0.51 percent to close at 19.971.99 and the S&P 500 added 22.09 points or 0.36 percent to end at 6,083.57.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today.

Traders will be watching the numbers, which could affect the Federal Reserve's outlook for interest rates.

A day ahead of the monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week.

Crude oil saw further downside on Thursday as U.S. President Donald Trump repeated his pledge to increase U.S. oil production in an effort to lower prices. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery slid $0.42 or 0.6 percent to a one-month low of $70.61 a barrel.