Higher Open Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one session after halting the six-day winning streak in which it had skyrocketed more than 4,200 points or 21 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 22,730-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat following the release of strong U.S. employment data. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Friday with gains in all sectors, especially among the technology, oil and insurance companies.

For the day, the index surged 623.37 points or 2.82 percent to finish at 22,736.87 after trading between 21,824.68 and 22,742.36.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group rallied 3.55 percent, while Alibaba Health Info advanced 2.38 percent, ANTA Sports jumped 3.54 percent, China Life Insurance soared 7.91 percent, China Mengniu Dairy accelerated 4.49 percent, China Resources Land perked 0.67 percent, CITIC climbed 2.73 percent, CNOOC strengthened 3.11 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical surged 9.49 percent, Galaxy Entertainment gathered 1.02 percent, Haier Smart Home spiked 4.08 percent, Hang Lung Properties stumbled 1.12 percent, Henderson Land was up 0.38 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.42 percent, JD.com soared 7.28 percent, Lenovo jumped 2.96 percent, Li Auto accelerated 3.76 percent, Li Ning gained 1.06 percent, Meituan rallied 4.10 percent, New World Development sank 0.53 percent, Nongfu Spring increased 1.95 percent, Techtronic Industries added 1.16 percent, Xiaomi Corporation improved 2.08 percent, WuXi Biologics skyrocketed 14.46 percent and Hong Kong & China Gas was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained well in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow jumped 341.15 points or 0.81 percent to finish at a record 42,352.75, while the NASDAQ rallied 219.35 points or 1.22 percent to end at 18,137.85 and the S&P 500 advanced 51.13 points or 0.90 percent to close at 5,751.

The support on Wall Street came after the Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 254,000 jobs in September after rising by an upwardly revised 159,000 jobs in August.

The stronger than expected jobs growth eased concerns about the economic outlook, but dashed hopes of aggressive rate cuts in the coming months.

Following the jobs data, CME Group's FedWatch Tool is indicating a 91.2% the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point in November and just a 8.8 percent chance of another half point rate cut.

Oil futures settled higher on Friday on concerns about a possible attack on Iran's oil facilities by Israel, while upbeat U.S. jobs data also supported oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November added $0.67 or 0.91 percent at $74.38 a barrel, a five-week high. WTI crude futures gained more than 9 percent in the week.