Oversold Hang Seng Nonetheless Called Lower On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has tracked lower in consecutive trading days, surrendering almost 700 points or 4 percent along the way to a fresh 11-year closing low. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 17,160-point plateau and it's looking at another awful lead for Friday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is brutal on growing fears of a recession and rising interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the technology stocks and oil companies.

For the day, the index sank 85.01 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 17,165.87 after trading between 17,046.83 and 17,629.67.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group rallied 2.88 percent, while Alibaba Health Info stumbled 1.89 percent, ANTA Sports was down 0.46 percent, China Life Insurance retreated 2.09 percent, China Mengniu Dairy surrendered 3.30 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) slid 0.60 percent, China Resources Land declined 2.42 percent, CITIC dropped 1.36 percent, CNOOC lost 0.96 percent, Country Garden plunged 7.19 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical spiked 2.03 percent, Galaxy Entertainment slumped 1.63 percent, Hang Lung Properties climbed 0.95 percent, Henderson Land fell 0.90 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas jumped 1.18 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China skidded 1.38 percent, JD.com added 0.50 percent, Lenovo tanked 7.12 percent, Longfor plummeted 7.51 percent, Meituan advanced 0.83 percent, New World Development shed 1.12 percent, Techtronic Industries eased 0.39 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tumbled 4.82 percent, WuXi Biologics sank 1.34 percent and Li Ning was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Thursday and remained deeply in the red, although they closed off of sessions lows.

The Dow tumbled 458.13 points or 1.54 percent to finish at 29,225.61, while the NASDAQ plunged 314.13 points or 2.84 percent to close at 10,737.51 and the S&P 500 dropped 78.57 points or 2.11 percent to end at 3,640.47.

The sharp pullback on Wall Street came as traders cashed in on Wednesday's gains, as the buying interest generated by the Bank of England's bond market intervention quickly evaporated. The moves by the BoE contributed to a pullback by bond yields and the U.S. dollar, inspiring traders to pick up stocks at reduced levels. But bond yields moved back to the upside, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note partly offsetting Wednesday's 25.9 basis point plunge.

A Labor Department report showing first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits unexpectedly fell to a five-month low last week also weighed on the markets. While the report points to continued strength in the labor market, traders may view the data as giving the Federal Reserve confidence that it can continue to aggressively raise interest rates.

Adding to the negative sentiment on Wall Street, data from Freddie Mac showed the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.70 percent in the week ending September 29th, up from 6.29 percent the week before.

Crude oil prices fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Thursday before closing lower on concerns about the outlook for energy demand amidst a possible global recession. West Texas Intermediate for November delivery slid $0.92 or 1.1 percent to $81.23 per barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide August numbers for retail sales later today; in July, sales were up 1.0 percent on year.