Lower Open Projected For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 700 points or 4 percent to an 11-year closing low. The Hang Seng Index sits just above the 18,010-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of key U.S. employment data, which will affect the outlook for interest rates and the likelihood of recession. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Thursday as profit taking among the technology stocks was mitigated by support from the property sector.

For the day, the index sank 75.82 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 18,012.15 after trading between 17,958.14 and 18,143.85.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group slumped 1.25 percent, while Alibaba Health Info tumbled 1.79 percent, ANTA Sports shed 0.60 percent, China Life Insurance lost 0.59 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) fell 0.57 percent, China Resources Land plunged 2.40 percent, CITIC was up 0.13 percent, CNOOC climbed 1.23 percent, Country Garden declined 1.62 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical retreated 1.42 percent, Hang Lung Properties spiked 1.64 percent, Henderson Land gained 0.44 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas advanced 0.99 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dropped 0.79 percent, JD.com plummeted 2.91 percent, Lenovo sank 0.70 percent, Li Ning improved 0.99 percent, Longfor tanked 1.84 percent, Meituan jumped 1.26 percent, New World Development added 0.69 percent, Techtronic Industries rose 0.13 percent, Xiaomi Corporation eased 0.11 percent, WuXi Biologics skidded 1.19 percent and China Mengniu Dairy and Galaxy Entertainment were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened slightly higher but quickly turned well into the red and remained that way for the rest of the session.

The Dow dropped 346.93 points or 1.15 percent to finish at 29,926.94, while the NASDAQ sank 75.33 points or 0.68 percent to end at 11,073.31 and the S&P 500 declined 38.76 points or 1.02 percent to close at 3,744.52.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders continued to express concerns about the outlook for interest rates and the impact higher rates will have on the economy.

A continued rebound by treasury yields also weighed on the markets, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note extending the sharp upward move seen on Wednesday.

Traders were also looking ahead to the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly employment report later today.

Oil prices climbed higher on Thursday, rising for a fourth straight session after OPEC announced on Wednesday that it would cut production by 2 million barrels per day from November, while a drop in U.S. crude inventories last week also contributed to the rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November added $0.69 or 0.8 percent at $88.45 a barrel.