Hong Kong Stock Market May Take Further Damage On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the five-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 1,000 points or 4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 24,560-point plateau and it's tipped to open under pressure again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on tech weakness, rising oil prices and Middle East concerns. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, resource stocks and technology companies, although the energy stocks were up.

For the day, the index plunged 446.36 points or 1.78 percent to finish at 24,562.24 after trading between 24,332.51 and 25,166.56.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened under water and spent the entire session in the red, ending near session lows.

The Dow slumped 406.55 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 52,146.42, while the NASDAQ tumbled 361.70 points or 1.40 percent to close at 25,520.24 and the S&P 500 sank 76.08 points or 1.01 percent to end at 7,457.69.

For the week, the NASDAQ plunged 2.9 percent, the S&P 500 dove 1.6 percent and the Dow sank 0.9 percent.

The early weakness on Wall Street came as technology stocks extended Thursday's losses, led by a 7.3 percent drop by shares of Netflix (NFLX) after the stream giant reported Q2 results in line with estimates but offered disappointing guidance.

But the weakness spread to the broader markets as the day progressed amid a sharp increase by the price of crude oil, which surged well above $80 a barrel amid concerns about the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

Crude oil prices surged on Friday as the U.S.-Iran conflict grows wider, with the U.S. targeting Iran civil infrastructures. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up $3.65 or 4.62 percent at $82.60 per barrel.