Hong Kong Stock Market Due For Support On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, slumping more than 500 points or 3.1 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 16,080-point plateau although it's expected to rebound on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on encouraging inflation data and an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index tumbled 277.48 points or 1.70 percent to finish at 16,081.04 after trading between 15,945.20 and 16,138.22.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group plummeted 4.55 percent, while Alibaba Health Info surrendered 2.23 percent, ANTA Sports retreated 2.10 percent, China Life Insurance sank 1.35 percent, China Mengniu Dairy dropped 1.32 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) slid 0.89 percent, China Resources Land shed 1.24 percent, CITIC skidded 1.61 percent, CNOOC and Li Ning both dipped 0.79 percent, Country Garden added 0.74 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical fell 0.95 percent, Galaxy Entertainment slumped 1.74 percent, Hang Lung Properties rose 0.18 percent, Henderson Land eased 0.46 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas tumbled 2.84 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 1.11 percent, JD.com tanked 3.66 percent, Lenovo gained 0.31 percent, Longfor climbed 1.15 percent, Meituan weakened 1.66 percent, New World Development advanced 0.84 percent, Techtronic Industries plunged 3.93 percent, Xiaomi Corporation declined 2.18 percent and WuXi Biologics stumbled 1.91 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages saw their best performance in two years, opening sharply higher Thursday and continuing to accelerate as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow skyrocketed 1,201.43 points or 3.70 percent to finish at 33,715.37, while the NASDAQ exploded for 760.97 points or 7.35 percent to close at 11,114.15 and the S&P 500 surged 207.80 points or 5.54 percent to end at 3,956.37.

The rally on Wall Street followed the release of a report from the Labor Department showing a smaller than expected monthly increase in consumer prices and a bigger than expected slowdown in the annual rate of price growth.

The data suggests the Federal Reserve's efforts to contain inflation are having an effect, reinforcing recent optimism the central bank will slow the pace of interest rate hikes as early as next month.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday, rebounding after three straight days of losses as the dollar fell on the better than expected U.S. inflation data. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $0.64 or 0.8 percent at $86.47 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide final Q3 figures for gross domestic product later today; in the previous three months, GDP was up 1.0 percent on quarter and down 1.3 percent on year.