Hong Kong Stock Market May Be Stuck In Neutral On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has tracked higher in five straight sessions, advancing more than 1,000 points or 4 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 25,000-point plateau although it's due for consolidation on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with technology stocks expected to weigh. The European and U.S. markets were own and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and technology stocks, although the energy companies were soft.

For the day, the index rallied 327.50 points or 1.33 percent to finish at 25,008.60 after trading between 24,825.02 and 25,221.44.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened mixed but quickly fell under water, trending lower throughout the trading day and finishing near session lows.

The Dow sank 105.67 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 52,552.97, while the NASDAQ tumbled 387.28 points or 1.47 percent to end at 25,881.95 and the S&P 500 lost 38.63 points or 0.51 percent to close at 7,533.77.

The pullback on Wall Street came amid renewed weakness among technology stocks, as reflected by the slump by the tech-heavy NASDAQ. Computer hardware and semiconductor stocks turned in some of the worst performances.

Gold, brokerage and steel stocks saw notable weakness, while transportation, housing and healthcare stocks were up.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly dipped to a two-month low last week. Also, the Commerce Department noted a modest increase in U.S. retail sales in June.

Crude oil prices slumped on Thursday as hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the U.S.-Iran conflict strengthened. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was down $0.90 or 1.13 percent at $78.70 per barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will see June figures for unemployment later today; in May, the jobless rate was 3.7 percent.