Hong Kong Stock Market May End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, slumping more than 550 points or 3.2 percent in that span. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 17,450-point plateau although it may see a measure of traction on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key U.S. jobs data later today. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished slightly lower on Thursday as losses from the technology and financial shares were mitigated by strong support from the property sector.

For the day, the index dipped 13.04 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 17,444.30 after trading between 17,332.49 and 17,555.61.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group shed 0.37 percent, while Alibaba Health Info and China Life Insurance both jumped 1.05 percent, ANTA Sports added 0.67 percent, China Mengniu Dairy advanced 0.78 percent, China Resources Land spiked 1.69 percent, CITIC slumped 0.67 percent, CNOOC lost 0.30 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical tanked 1.65 percent, Galaxy Entertainment plunged 1.85 percent, Haier Smart Home rallied 1.46 percent, Hang Lung Properties and WuXi Biologics both fell 0.18 percent, Henderson Land surged 2.36 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas climbed 0.81 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China declined 0.94 percent, JD.com tumbled 1.42 percent, Lenovo sank 0.43 percent, Li Auto retreated 1.28 percent, Li Ning gained 0.42 percent, Meituan perked 0.08 percent, New World Development soared 2.12 percent, Nongfu Spring plummeted 2.03 percent, Xiaomi Corporation dropped 0.64 percent and Techtronic Industries were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains conflicted as the major averages opened mixed on Thursday and hugged the line for most of the day, finally ending little changed.

The Dow shed 219.22 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 40,755.75, while the NASDAQ added 43.36 points or 0.25 percent to close at 17,127.66 and the S&P 500 sank 16.66 points or 0.30 percent to end at 5,503.41.

The mixed performance on Wall Street followed the release of mixed readings on employment ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today.

Economists expect employment to add 160,000 jobs in August after rising by 114,000 jobs in July. The unemployment rate is expected to ease to 4.2 percent in August from 4.3 percent in July, which was its highest level since October 2021.

Before the start of trading, payroll processor ADP released a report showing private sector employment in the U.S. increased by much less than expected in the month of August.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday due to concerns about the outlook for demand, although the downside was limited by reports that OPEC has postponed plans to boost production next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended down by $0.05 at $69.15 a barrel, the lowest settlement in about nine months.