Hang Seng May Hand Back Thursday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Thursday wrote a finish to the four-day losing streak in which it had tumbled more than 550 points or 3.2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 17,830-point plateau although it's expected to turn lower again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests profit taking, particularly among the technology sectors. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Thursday with gains across the board, especially among the property and technology companies.

For the day, the index rallied 360.66 points or 2.06 percent to finish at 17,832.33 after trading between 17,621.05 and 17,864.09.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group spiked 3.21 percent, while Alibaba Health Info improved 1.92 percent, ANTA Sports soared 4.06 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 2.41 percent, China Mengniu Dairy surged 4.21 percent, China Resources Land and CITIC both rallied 2.70 percent, CNOOC climbed 2.03 percent, Country Garden skyrocketed 6.67 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical gained 1.66 percent, Galaxy Entertainment strengthened 2.22 percent, Hang Lung Properties rose 1.52 percent, Henderson Land rallied 3.08 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas advanced 1.95 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.93 percent, JD.com accelerated 2.79 percent, Lenovo added 1.77 percent, Li Ning increased 1.89 percent, Meituan gathered 1.04 percent, New World Development surged 5.51 percent, Techtronic Industries perked 0.85 percent, Xiaomi Corporation spiked 3.47 percent and WuXi Biologics soared 4.32 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is largely negative as the major averages opened lower on Thursday; the Dow inched barely into the green, while the S&P and NASDAQ retreated from record highs.

The Dow rose 32.39 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 39,753.75, while the NASDAQ plummeted 364.04 points or 1.95 percent to close at 18,283.41 and the S&P 500 sank 49.37 points or 0.88 percent to end at 5,584.54.

Optimism about the outlook for interest rates contributed to early strength on Wall Street, although it quickly waned as traders seem to have already priced in a rate cut in September.

The subsequent sell-off came as traders cashed in on the recent strength in the markets, with some of the biggest tech winners of the year like AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) leading the pullback.

Nonetheless, the Federal Reserve is still seen as likely to lower rates in September after a report from the Labor Department showing showed prices in the U.S. unexpectedly edged slightly lower in June.

Oil futures settled higher on Thursday, lifted by hopes of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve after the encouraging inflation data. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.52 at $82.62 a barrel.