Profit Taking May Slow Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, rallying almost 650 points or 3.6 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 18,960-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on conflicting factors in the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and technology stocks.

For the day, the index jumped 425.87 or 2.30 percent to finish at 18,963.68 after trading between 18,657.51 and 18,993.28.

Among the actives, China Life Insurance soared 4.90 percent, while China Mengniu Dairy rose 0.59 percent, China Resources Land skyrocketed 7.18 percent, CITIC spiked 5.93 percent, CNOOC jumped 2.91 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical improved 1.48 percent, Galaxy Entertainment increased 0.67 percent, Hang Lung Properties accelerated 3.31 percent, Henderson Land jumped 2.69 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas strengthened 2.45 percent, HSBC collected 0.44 percent, Lenovo dropped 0.98 percent, Meituan rose 0.59 percent, New World Development surged 5.45 percent, PetroChina rallied 4.63 percent, Techtronic Industries gained 0.45 percent, Xiaomi Corporation advanced 1.25 percent and Sands China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened higher on Friday, gave ground and finished mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 125.08 points or 0.3 percent to finish at 39,512.84, while the NASDAQ dipped 5.40 points or 0.1 percent to close at 16,340.87 and the S&P 500 rose 8.60 points or 0.2 percent to end at 5,222.68.

For the week, the NASDAQ jumped by 1.14 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Dow surged by 1.85 percent and 2.16 percent, respectively.

The early strength on Wall Street partly reflected recently renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates. Recent data has pointed to some softness in the U.S. labor market, increasing investor confidence the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates in the coming months.

However, the early buying interest was partly offset by a report from the University of Michigan showing a sharp drop in U.S. consumer sentiment in May. The report also showed a notable increase in year-ahead inflation expectations.

Crude oil prices fell on Friday, on concerns the Federal Reserve may keep interest rates higher for a longer period, and uncertainty about the outlook for oil demand due to signs of slowing economic growth. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June sank $1.00 at $78.26 a barrel.