Soft Start Seen For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day losing streak in which it had plummeted more than 610 points or 3.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 17,200-point plateau although it may hand back those gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of key U.S. employment data later in the day. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished slightly higher on Thursday as gains from the property sector were offset by weakness from the technology companies.

For the day, the index rose 18.03 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 17,213.87 after trading between 17,197.61 and 17,336.43.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group dropped 0.49 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plunged 2.12 percent, ANTA Sports eased 0.06 percent, China Life Insurance retreated 1.19 percent, China Mengniu Dairy gained 0.20 percent, China Resources Land shed 0.33 percent, CITIC soared 1.93 percent, CNOOC sank 0.46 percent, Country Garden jumped 1.35 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical rose 0.19 percent, Galaxy Entertainment advanced 0.77 percent, Hang Lung Properties spiked 1.55 percent, Henderson Land rallied 1.41 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas added 0.75 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 0.28 percent, JD.com climbed 1,09 percent, Meituan slumped 0.94 percent, New World Development surged 2.16 percent, Techtronic Industries plummeted 2.88 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tumbled 1.52 percent, WuXi Biologics tanked 1.72 percent and Lenovo and Li Ning were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Thursday, tumbled and then rebounded but still ended slightly under water.

The Dow dipped 9.98 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 33,119.57, while the NASDAQ fell 16.18 points or 0.12 percent to close at 13,219.83 and the S&P 500 eased 5.56 points or 0.13 percent to end at 4,258.19.

The early weakness on Wall Street came as traders remained worried about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the release of closely watched employment data later today.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, with a continue pullback by treasuries inspiring some traders to pick up stocks at reduced levels.

Ahead of the monthly jobs report, the Labor Department reported a slight uptick in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Thursday amid uncertainty about the outlook for demand and due to disappointment over OPEC's decision to not increase the size of production cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November sank $1.91 or 2.3 percent at $82.31 a barrel.