Hang Seng: Support Expected At 18,000 Points

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in two straight session, sinking more than 400 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 18,030-point plateau although it's likely to halt its slide on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, with oil and technology stocks likely to weigh on the markets. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index tumbled 306.78 points or 1.67 percent to finish at 18,028.52 after trading between 17,968.37 and 18,240.13.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group skidded 1.91 percent, while Alibaba Health Info rose 0.29 percent, ANTA Sports slumped 2.07 percent, China Life Insurance was down 0.88 percent, China Mengniu Dairy lost 1.64 percent, China Resources Land slipped 1.28 percent, CITIC sank 1.83 percent, CNOOC tanked 3.19 percent, Country Garden gained 0.80 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical fell 1.55 percent, Galaxy Entertainment shed 1.67 percent, Hang Lung Properties plummeted 4.60 percent, Henderson Land stumbled 2.08 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas declined 2.55 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slid 1.31 percent, JD.com retreated 2.58 percent, Lenovo eased 0.66 percent, Li Ning tumbled 2.78 percent, Meituan surrendered 3.09 percent, New World Development plunged 3.60 percent, Techtronic Industries weakened 1.97 percent, Xiaomi Corporation dropped 1.84 percent and WuXi Biologics dipped 1.02 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Friday and ultimately finished mixed but little changed.

The Dow added 15.53 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 39,150.33, while the NASDAQ shed 32.24 points or 0.18 percent to end at 17,689.36 and the S&P 500 dipped 8.55 points or 0.16 percent to close at 5,464.62.

For the holiday-shortened week, the Dow jumped 1.5 percent and the S&P 500 climbed 0.6 percent, while the NASDAQ was nearly unchanged.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders assessed recent activity in the markets, which saw the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 reach new record intraday highs before turning lower.

Traders also kept an eye on shares of Nvidia (NVDA), as the AI darling has recently been a key driver of the markets. It dragged the technology shares lower after slumping 3.2 percent on Friday after briefly surpassing Microsoft (MSFT) as the world's most valuable public company.

On the economic front, the National Association of Realtors said existing home sales in the U.S. fell roughly in line with estimates in May. A separate report from the Conference Board said leading U.S. economic indicators fell more than expected last month.

Oil futures settled lower on Friday, weighed down by concerns about the outlook for global oil demand and a firm greenback. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for July shed $0.56 or 0.7 percent at $80.73 a barrel for the week but gained 3 percent for the week.