Hong Kong Stock Market Predicted To Halt Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in five straight sessions, surrendering almost 1,450 points or 7 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 20,300-point plateau although it's overdue for support on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, thanks to encouraging economic and earnings news. The European and U.S. markets were up sharply and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower again on Friday with damage across the board - especially among the financials, properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index plummeted 453.49 points or 2.19 percent to finish at 20,297.72 after trading between 20,215.97 and 20,656.96.

Among the actives, AAC Technologies cratered 4.95 percent, while Alibaba Group plunged 5.98 percent, Alibaba Health Info crashed 5.45 percent, ANTA Sports slumped 2.07 percent, China Life Insurance declined 2.84 percent, China Mengniu Dairy eased 0.39 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) was down 0.58 percent, China Resources Land dropped 1.62 percent, CITIC faded 0.49 percent, CNOOC sank 1.58 percent, Country Garden plummeted 7.88 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical skidded 1.80 percent, Galaxy Entertainment slid 0.88 percent, Hang Lung Properties slipped 0.72 percent, Henderson Land shed 1.43 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas fell 1.33 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China gave away 0.99 percent, JD.com tumbled 3.03 percent, Lenovo lost 1.39 percent, Li Ning dipped 0.82 percent, Meituan weakened 1.81 percent, New World Development stumbled 2.44 percent, Techtronic Industries surrendered 3.11 percent, Xiaomi Corporation retreated 2.50 percent and WuXi Biologics tanked 4.34 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained firmly in the green throughout the session.

The Dow surged 658.09 points or 2.15 percent to finish at 31,288.26, while the NASDAQ spiked 201.24 points or 1.79 percent to end at 11,452.42 and the S&P 500 jumped 72.78 points or 1.92 percent to close at 3,863.16.

For the week, the NASDAQ slumped by 1.6 percent, the S&P 500 slid by 0.9 percent and the Dow edged down by 0.2 percent.

A positive reaction to the latest earnings news contributed to the rally on Wall Street, fueled by the likes of Citigroup (C) and UnitedHealth (UNH), which exceeded expectations.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said retail sales jumped more than expected last month. Also, the University of Michigan unexpectedly showed a modest improvement in U.S. consumer sentiment in July. And the Labor Department said U.S. import prices crept up much less than expected in June.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday, buoyed by reports that an increase in Saudi oil output is unlikely for now. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $1.81 or 1.9 percent at $97.59 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed nearly 7 percent in the week.