Hong Kong Bourse Poised To End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, slumping more than 750 points or 3.8 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 20,150-point plateau although it's tipped to stop the bleeding on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over corporate earnings, plus support from the energy and technology sectors. The European and U.S. markets were solidly higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the properties, casinos, oil companies and technology stocks.

For the day, the index plummeted 466.17 points or 2.26 percent to finish at 20,156.51 after trading between 20,050.05 and 20,647.45.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group plunged 6.10 percent, while Alibaba Health Info cratered 5.98 percent, ANTA Sports stumbled 2.54 percent, China Life Insurance slid 0.68 percent, China Mengniu Dairy eased 0.27 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.27 percent, China Resources Land skidded 1.50 percent, CNOOC lost 0.99 percent, Country Garden crashed 5.82 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical sank 1.38 percent, Galaxy Entertainment dropped 1.48 percent, Hang Lung Properties weakened 2.06 percent, Henderson Land slipped 0.55 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas shed 1.31 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.24 percent, JD.com declined 4.57 percent, Lenovo fell 0.78 percent, Li Ning retreated 4.22 percent, Longfor tanked 5.76 percent, Meituan plummeted 6.22 percent, New World Development dipped 0.57 percent, Techtronic Industries surrendered 4.71 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tumbled 5.08 percent, WuXi Biologics slumped 3.12 percent and CITIC, ENN Energy and Hengan International were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and accelerated as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow spiked 315.53 points or 0.97 percent to finish at 32,845.13, while the NASDAQ jumped 228.09 points or 1.88 percent to end at 12,390.69 and the S&P 500 gained 57.86 points or 1.42 percent to close at 4,130.29.

For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 4.7 percent, the S&P climbed 4.3 percent and the Dow gained 3.0 percent. The three-day rally also capped off a strong month for stocks, with the major averages recording their best monthly gains since 2020.

The continued strength on Wall Street reflected a positive reaction to the latest batch of earnings news from big-name companies like Amazon (AMZN) and tech giant Apple (AAPL) - although others like Intel (INTC) and Proctor & Gamble (PG) disappointed.

Crude oil prices rose sharply after the Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude inventories tumbled last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $2.20 or 2.3 percent at $98.62 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 4.1 percent in the week but fell 6.8 percent in the month.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will release an advance estimate of Q2 gross domestic product later today. GDP is expected to expand 3.8 percent on quarter and 0.6 percent on year after sinking 3.0 percent on quarter and 4.0 percent on year in the three months prior.