Hong Kong Stock Market Expected To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in three consecutive sessions, advancing more than 510 points or 2.5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng now rests just above the 20.200-point plateau, although it's likely to run out of steam on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation, with weakness expected from the technology and oil sectors. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished slightly higher on Friday as gains from the financials and properties were limited by weakness from the oil companies and a mixed picture from the technology stocks.

For the day, the index gained 27.90 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 20,201.94 after trading between 20,096.54 and 20,283.59.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group tumbled 2.21 percent, while ANTA Sports accelerated 2.99 percent, China Life Insurance improved 1.41 percent, China Mengniu Dairy climbed 2.35 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) shed 0.28 percent, China Resources Land gained 0.80 percent, CITIC and Xiaomi Corporation both added 0.83 percent, CNOOC retreated 1.25 percent, Country Garden spiked 3.67 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical soared 3.90 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rose 0.32 percent, Hang Lung Properties advanced 1.76 percent, Henderson Land jumped 2.94 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.49 percent, JD.com lost 0.24 percent, Lenovo strengthened 2.58 percent, Li Ning gathered 1.08 percent, Longfor rallied 2.62 percent, Meituan fell 0.16 percent, New World Development was up 0.19 percent, Techtronic Industries surged 4.16 percent, WuXi Biologics declined 0.94 percent and Alibaba Health Info, Hong Kong & China Gas and CLP Holdings were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed to lower as the major averages opened deep in the red on Friday and recovered somewhat, although only the Dow peeked up into positive territory.

The Dow added 76.67 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 32,803.47, while the NASDAQ sank 63.04 points or 0.50 percent to end at 12,657.55 and the S&P 500 dipped 6.75 points or 0.16 percent to close at 4,145.19.

For the week, the NASDAQ surged 2.2 percent, the S&P rose 0.4 percent and the Dow eased 0.1 percent.

The volatility on Wall Street came as traders reacted to the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report - which showed employment in the U.S. jumped by much more than expected in July, leading to concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

While the data paints a positive picture of the labor market, the report may also give the Federal Reserve confidence they can continue aggressively raising interest rates without causing a recession.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday, lifted by the strong jobs report, but still posted a weekly loss amid concerns about demand due to economic slowdown. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $0.47 or 0.5 percent at $89.01 a barrel.