Soft Start Expected For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, advancing more than 50 points or 0.3 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 17,780-point plateau although it's likely to turn lower again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, with continued selling pressure expected among technology and semiconductor stocks. The European and U.S. markets were mostly down and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Thursday as gains from the oil and financial stocks were capped by weakness from the technology shares and a mixed bag from the properties.

For the day, the index collected 39.01 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 17,778.41 after trading between 17,623.74 and 17,864.12.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group sank 0.66 percent, while Alibaba Health Info slumped 0.88 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.72 percent, China Mengniu Dairy perked 0.13 percent, China Resources Land advanced 0.94 percent, CNOOC jumped 1.89 percent, Country Garden dipped 0.20 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical climbed 1.00 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rose 0.15 percent, Haier Smart Home soared 2.75 percent, Hang Lung Properties improved 0.73 percent, Henderson Land lost 0.43 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas eased 0.16 percent, JD.com shed 0.47 percent, Lenovo dropped 0.75 percent, Li Ning plunged 2.65 percent, Meituan gained 0.25 percent, New World Development rallied 1.54 percent, Nongfu Spring surged 6.48 percent, Techtronic Industries tumbled 1.10 percent, Xiaomi Corporation added 0.36 percent, WuXi Biologics fell 0.35 percent and ANTA Sports, CITIC and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is poor as the major averages opened slightly higher on Thursday but quickly headed south and stayed deep in the red for the remainder of the session.

The Dow plunged 533.06 points or 1.29 percent to finish at 40,665.02, while the NASDAQ lost 125.70 points or 0.70 percent to end at 17,871.22 and the S&P 500 sank 43.68 points or 0.78 percent to close at 5,544.59.

The weakness on Wall Street partly reflected concerns about the near-term outlook for the markets following Wednesday's tech sell-off following reports that the Biden's administration is considering tougher trade rules against companies in its chip crackdown on China.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits climbed more than expected last week.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that growth by regional manufacturing was more widespread in July. Also, the Conference Board noted a modest decrease by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators in June.

Oil futures eased slightly on Thursday concerns about the outlook for oil demand from China, while the dollar's recovery weighed as well on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.03 at $82.82 a barrel.