Lower Open Called For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one day after snapping the two-day winning streak in which it had rallied almost 500 points or 2.2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 23,600-point plateau although it's tipped to open in the red on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on renewed trade and tariff concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares and mixed performances from the technology stocks and properties.

For the day, the index gained 56.95 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 23,601.26 after trading between 23,487.40 and 23,749.38.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group dipped 0.25 percent, while Alibaba Health Info lost 0.44 percent, ANTA Sports rose 0.32 percent, China Life Insurance spiked 1.55 percent, China Mengniu Dairy sank 0.56 percent, China Resources Land dropped 0.59 percent, CITIC increased 0.20 percent, CNOOC gained 0.56 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical soared 2.16 percent, ENN Energy retreated 0.78 percent, Galaxy Entertainment was up 0.16 percent, Haier Smart Home stumbled 1.05 percent, Hang Lung Properties eased 0.16 percent, Henderson Land was down 0.21 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas slid 0.29 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Li Auto both rallied 1.07 percent , JD.com shed 0.45 percent, Lenovo slumped 0.73 percent, Li Ning fell 0.40 percent, Meituan added 0.66 percent, New World Development surged 6.79 percent, Nongfu Spring slipped 0.27 percent, Techtronic Industries advanced 0.67 percent, Xiaomi Corporation dipped 0.38 percent, WuXi Biologics tumbled 0.83 percent and CLP Holdings was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Friday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 256.02 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 41,603.07, while the NASDAQ tumbled 188.53 points or 1.00 percent to close at 18,737.21 and the S&P 500 sank 39.19 points or 0.67 percent to end at 5,802.82.

For the week, the S&P 500 gave up 2.6 percent, while the NASDAQ and the Dow both plunged 2.5 percent.

The initial slump on Wall Street came after President Donald Trump threatened to impose 50 percent tariffs on imports from the European Union beginning June 1, sparking renewed trade concerns.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department said new home sales in the U.S. spiked in April compared to a significantly downwardly revised level in March.

Crude oil prices ticked higher on Friday but still fell for the week amid reports of another production increase by OPEC for July. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery climbed $0.34 or 0.6 percent to $61.54 a barrel. For the week, crude fell 1.5 percent.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will see April figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In March, imports were up 16.6 percent on year and exports climbed 18.5 percent for a trade deficit of HKD45.4 billion.