Hong Kong Stock Market Expected To Open Under Water On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the three-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 550 points or 2.2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just shy of the 25,420-point plateau although it may hand back those gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns about the health of the American economy. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are also expected to open to the downside.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Friday with bargain hunting across the board, especially among the properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index soared 359.47 points or 1.43 percent to finish at 25,417.98 after trading between 25,090.65 and 25,471.80.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group climbed 1.54 percent, while ANTA Sports improved 0.91 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.80 percent, China Mengniu Dairy perked 0.20 percent, China Resources Land jumped 1.95 percent, CITIC accelerated 2.45 percent, CNOOC advanced 1.06 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical soared 3.32 percent, Galaxy Entertainment spiked 2.69 percent, Haier Smart Home rallied 2.14 percent, Hang Lung Properties surged 6.12 percent, Henderson Land strengthened 1.84 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas added 0.73 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China gained 0.70 percent, JD.com jumped 1.92 percent, Lenovo soared 3.38 percent, Li Auto rose 0.43 percent, Li Ning advanced 1.40 percent, Meituan accelerated 1.58 percent, New World Development skyrocketed 6.47 percent, Nongfu Spring rallied 2.06 percent, Techtronic Industries climbed 1.47 percent, Xiaomi Corporation gathered 0.37 percent, WuXi Biologics surged 4.71 percent and Alibaba Health Info was unchanged.

The lead from the Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but quickly headed south and spent the balance of the day in the red.

The Dow stumbled 220.44 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 45,400.86, while the NASDAQ fell 7.31 points or 0.03 percent to close at 21,700.39 and the S&P 500 sank 20.58 points or 0.32 percent to end at 6,481.50. For the week, the NASDAQ jumped 1.1 percent, the S&P rose 0.3 percent and the Dow dipped 0.3 percent.

The early downturn on Wall Street came as traders digested a closely watched Labor Department report showing much weaker than expected U.S. job growth in the month of August.

Traders initially reacted positively to the report amid optimism the data will convince the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates later this month. But buying interest quickly waned amid concerns about the outlook for the economy.

Crude oil moved sharply lower on Friday as oversupply concerns grew stronger ahead of OPEC's Sunday meeting, where the group did as expected and boosted output. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery dropped $1.64 or 2.58 percent to $61.84 per barrel.