Steady Start Seen For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 650 points or 2.4 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 26,150-point plateau although it may find traction on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets offers little clarity ahead of key U.S. employment data. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and roughly flat and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares and technology stocks, while the property sector was mixed.

For the day, the index tumbled 309.64 points or 1.17 percent to finish at 26,149.31 after trading between 25,960.34 and 26,305.69.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group cratered 2.26 percent, while Alibaba Health Info sank 0.72 percent, China Life Insurance stumbled 2.14 percent, China Mengniu Dairy dropped 0.78 percent, China Resources Land added 0.75 percent, CITIC retreated 1.78 percent, CNOOC rose 0.10 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical slipped 0.33 percent, Galaxy Entertainment gained 0.47 percent, Haier Smart Home eased 0.08 percent, Hang Lung Properties shed 0.68 percent, Henderson Land vaulted 1.45 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas advanced 0.84 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 0.65 percent, JD.com tumbled 2.02 percent, Lenovo plummeted 5.59 percent, Li Auto contracted 1.27 percent, Li Ning slumped 0.96 percent, Meituan plunged 3.35 percent, New World Development jumped 1.77 percent, Nongfu Spring skidded 0.88 percent, Techtronic Industries declined 1.30 percent, Xiaomi Corporation fell 0.37 percent, WuXi Biologics climbed 0.89 percent and ANTA Sports was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed on Thursday and spent much of the day on opposite sides of the line and ending the same way.

The Dow climbed 270.03 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 49,266.11, while the NASDAQ sank 104.26 points or 0.44 percent to end at 23,480.02 and the S&P 500 perked 0.51 points or 0.01 percent to close at 6,921.44.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today.

The jobs data could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy meeting later this month. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its January 27-28 meeting but is seen as likely to cut rates by at least another quarter point in the coming months.

Ahead of the monthly jobs report, a report released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged up slightly less than expected last week.

Crude oil prices skyrocketed on Thursday as data showed a decline in the U.S. crude inventories, offsetting global oversupply concerns and supporting prices. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was up $1.70 or 3.04 percent at $57.69 per barrel.