Rebound Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market headed south again on Thursday, one day after ending the three-day slide in which it had retreated almost 200 points or 1.1 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 18,330-point plateau although it's expected to bounce higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with profit taking among the technology stocks likely to cap any upside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Thursday as losses from the property and technology stocks were mitigated by support from the financial shares.

For the day, the index sank 95.07 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 18,335.32 after trading between 18,274.20 and 18,520.37.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group lost 1.08 percent, while Alibaba Health Info stumbled 2.24 percent, ANTA Sports surrendered 3.16 percent, China Life Insurance rallied 1.43 percent, China Mengniu Dairy retreated 2.76 percent, China Resources Land sank 1.27 percent, CITIC fell 0.52 percent, CNOOC surged 3.52 percent, Country Garden plunged 4.02 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical plummeted 4.31 percent, Galaxy Entertainment skidded 1.39 percent, Hang Lung Properties was down 0.29 percent, Henderson Land dropped 1.37 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas slid 0.51 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.66 percent, JD.com declined 2.43 percent, Lenovo dipped 0.33 percent, Li Ning slumped 2.07 percent, Meituan shed 1.24 percent, New World Development tanked 3.47 percent, Techtronic Industries tumbled 2.79 percent, Xiaomi Corporation rose 0.22 percent, WuXi Biologics weakened 1.84 percent and Haier Smart Home was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher, but the NASDAQ and S&P 500 turned lower and finished that way - while the Dow ended in the green.

The Dow rallied 299.90 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 39,134.76, while the NASDAQ stumbled 140.64 points or 0.79 percent to close at 17,721.59 and the S&P sank 13.86 points or 0.25 percent to end at 5,473.17.

While the early strength on Wall Street came amid a continued advanced by shares of Nvidia (NVDA), the subsequent downturn by the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 was also led by a significant pullback by the AI darling and market leader.

The downturn by the NASDAQ and the S&P may also have reflected profit taking after the indexes reached new record intraday highs, with the S&P 500 turning lower after climbing above 5,500 for the first time.

In economic news, the Labor Department reported a modest pullback by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week. Also, the Commerce Department noted a steep drop in new U.S. residential construction in May.

Crude oil prices advanced on Thursday after data showed crude inventories in the U.S. fell slightly more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $0.60 at $82.17 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide May figures for consumer prices later today; in April, overall inflation was down 0.7 percent on month and up 1.1 percent on year.