Higher Open Predicted For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Thursday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had rallied more than 275 points or 1.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 19,600-point plateau although it may see renewed support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on solid earnings news and support from crude oil. The European and U.S. markets finished higher and the Asian bourses are expected to continue that trend.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Thursday as the financial shares, properties and technology stocks ended mostly under water.

For the day, the index dropped 103.90 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 19,601.11 after trading between 19,552.50 and 19,764.62.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group shed 0.41 percent, while Alibaba Health Info tanked 1.83 percent, ANTA Sports tumbled 1.73 percent, China Life Insurance sank 0.51 percent, China Mengniu Dairy was up 0.23 percent, China Resources Land retreated 1.26 percent, CITIC fell 0.33 percent, CNOOC gained 0.35 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical lost 0.38 percent, Galaxy Entertainment slid 0.30 percent, Haier Smart Home dropped 0.74 percent, Hang Lung Properties rose 0.31 percent, Henderson Land was down 0.20 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas added 0.50 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slumped 0.85 percent, JD.com gathered 0.29 percent, Lenovo rallied 2.00 percent, Li Auto stumbled 1.55 percent, Li Ning eased 0.12 percent, Meituan declined 1.20 percent, New World Development skidded 0.83 percent, Nongfu Spring plummeted 2.54 percent, Techtronic Industries dipped 0.28 percent, Xiaomi Corporation advanced 0.54 percent and WuXi Biologics plunged 2.34 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened slightly lower on Thursday but gradually moved higher and finished in the green.

The Dow rallied 461.88 points or 1.06 percent to finish at 43,870.35, while the NASDAQ rose 6.28 points or 0.03 percent to close at 18,972.42 and the S&P 500 advanced 31.60 points or 0.53 percent to end at 5,948.71.

The sharp increase by the Dow came amid strong gains by IBM Corp. (IBM), Sherwin-Williams (SHW) and Salesforce (CRM).

The NASDAQ showed a lack of direction as traders tracked the performance of AI darling Nvidia (NVDA), which reported better than expected third quarter earnings and revenues - but some traders expressed concerns about slowing revenue growth.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell to their lowest level in over six months last week. Also, the Conference Board' leading economic index fell more than expected in October

Oil prices climbed higher Thursday as escalating geopolitical tensions due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine outweighed recent data showing robust supply in the market. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December closed up $1.35 or 1.96 percent at $70.10 a barrel.