Hong Kong Stock Market Tipped To Extend Winning Streak

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has tracked higher in two straight sessions, advancing more than 350 points or 1.8 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 20,050-point plateau and it's expected to see additional support on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on solid economic and earnings news. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index added 100.61 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 20,049.31 after trading between 19,968.41 and 20,208.75.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group added 1.18 percent, while Alibaba Health Info soared 3.18 percent, ANTA Sports accelerated 2.61 percent, China Life Insurance perked 0.65 percent, China Mengniu Dairy was up 0.46 percent, China Resources Land spiked 2,82 percent, CITIC rose 0.78 percent, CNOOC fell 0.32 percent, Country Garden surged 3.24 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical sank 0.49 percent, Galaxy Entertainment tumbled 1.55 percent, Hang Lung Properties skyrocketed 4.24 percent, Henderson Land advanced 1.24 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas climbed 2.00 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 2.29 percent, JD.com jumped 2.40 percent, Lenovo plunged 3.27 percent, Li Ning gained 1.00 percent, Meituan rallied 2.73 percent, New World Development gathered 0.97 percent, Techtronic Industries improved 1.55 percent, Xiaomi Corporation strengthened 2.01 percent and WuXi Biologics increased 1.28 percent.

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

The Dow surged 546.68 points or 1.65 percent to finish at 33,674.38, while the NASDAQ rallied 269.01 points or 2.25 percent to end at 12,235.41 and the S&P 500 jumped 75.03 points or 1.85 percent to close at 4,136.25. For the week, the NASDAQ rose 0.1 percent, the S&P slid 0.8 percent and the Dow fell 1.2 percent.

The rally on Wall Street partly reflected bargain hunting, as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness.

Regional banks helped lead the recovery after ongoing concerns about turmoil in the sector weighed on the markets in recent sessions, while strong quarterly results from tech giant Apple (AAPL) fueled gains on the NASDAQ.

Traders also reacted to the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report for April, which showed that job growth far exceeded estimates and the unemployment rate ticked lower.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday on easing recession concerns in some of the world's major economies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $2.78 or 4.1 percent at $71.34 a barrel but was down more than 7 percent for the week.