Lower Open Anticipated For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, plunging nearly 400 points or 2.3 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 16,950-point plateau and it's expected to open in the red again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is brutal on concerns of an economic slowdown in the United States. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Friday with damage across the board, especially among the oil and technology companies.

For the day, the index tumbled 359.49 points or 2.08 percent to finish at 16,945.51 after trading between 16,865.93 and 17,075.52.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group retreated 2.77 percent, while Alibaba Health Info declined 2.45 percent, ANTA Sports rose 0.15 percent, China Life Insurance slumped 2.41 percent, China Mengniu Dairy skidded 2.18 percent, China Resources Land and JD.com both shed 1.55 percent, CITIC eased 0.14 percent, CNOOC weakened 2.39 percent, Country Garden and CLP Holdings both slid 0.87 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical slipped 0.35 percent, Galaxy Entertainment plunged 4.57 percent, Hang Lung Properties fell 0.89 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas lost 1.37 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 0.69 percent, Lenovo surrendered 3.49 percent, Li Ning sank 2.01 percent, Meituan plummeted 4.76 percent, New World Development dropped 2.07 percent, Techtronic Industries tanked 4.02 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tumbled 3.60 percent, WuXi Biologics was down 0.18 percent and Henderson Land was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday and remained well under water throughout the trading day.

The Dow plummeted 610.74 points or 1.51 percent to finish at 39,737.26, while the NASDAQ tumbled 417.94 points or 2.43 percent to close at 16,776.16 and the S&P dropped 100.12 points or 1.84 percent to end at 5,346.56. For the week, the NASDAQ plummeted 3.4 percent, and the S&P 500 and the Dow both shed 2.1 percent.

Concerns about the outlook for the U.S. economy continued to weigh on Wall Street following the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing employment increased by much less than expected in the month of July.

While weaker than expected economic data has been a positive for the markets amid expectations it would convince the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, traders are concerned the Fed has waited too long and could spur a U.S. recession.

Negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to the latest earnings news, with companies like Intel (INTC) and online retail giant Amazon (AMZN) leading the way lower.

Crude oil prices fell sharply to a two-month low on Friday, sliding for a second successive session on rising concerns about the outlook for demand due to slowing growth in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September fell $2.79 or 3.66 percent at $73.52 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will see July results for its private sector PMI from S&P Global later this morning; in June, the index score was 48.2.