Hang Seng Has Positive Lead For Monday's Trade

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Friday's holiday for the Double Ninth Festival, the Hong Kong stock market had ended the two-day slide in which it had plummeted more than 2,400 points or 11 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 21,250-point plateau and it may open to the upside again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Thursday with gains across the board amidst continued volatility, particularly among the financial, property, oil and technology sectors.

For the day, the index surged 614.74 points or 2.98 percent to finish at 21,251.98 after trading between 20,983.94 and 21,622.65.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group jumped 2.82 percent, while Alibaba Health Info rose 1.15 percent, ANTA Sports surged 5.37 percent, China Life Insurance soared 4,71 percent, China Mengniu Dairy strengthened 2.66 percent, China Resources Land added 1.78 percent, CITIC accelerated 3.75 percent, CNOOC spiked 4.15 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical rallied 4.02 percent, Galaxy Entertainment improved 2.23 percent, Haier Smart Home advanced 2.24 percent, Hang Lung Properties gathered 0.87 percent, Henderson Land gained 1.38 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas was up 0.49 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China strengthened 3.09 percent, JD.com jumped 3.40 percent, Lenovo spiked 4.06 percent, Li Auto advanced 2.88 percent, Li Ning spiked 3.44 percent, Meituan surged 5.04 percent, New World Development eased 0.12 percent, Nongfu Spring soared 4.58 percent, Techtronic Industries climbed 2.92 percent, Xiaomi Corporation increased 1.93 percent and WuXi Biologics perked 0.67 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened mixed on Friday but quickly moved to the upside and remained that way, ending near session highs.

The Dow rallied 409.76 points or 0.97 percent to finish at 42,863.86, while the NASDAQ added 60.94 points or 0.33 percent to close at 18,342.94 and the S&P 500 rose 34.98 points or 0.61 percent to end at 5,815.03. For the week, the Dow jumped 1.2 percent and the NASDAQ and S&P both gained 1.1 percent.

The strength on Wall Street partly a positive reaction to a Labor Department report showing producer prices in the U.S. were unexpectedly unchanged in September.

The data reinforced optimism that the Federal Reserve will continue lowering interest rates in the coming months, although hopes for another 50-basis point cut next month have largely evaporated.

On the corporate front, companies like Wells Fargo (WFC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) surged on strong quarterly results, while Tesla (TSLA) tumbled after unveiling its robotaxi.

Crude oil prices saw a modest pullback on Friday after surging in the previous session. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery dipped $0.29 or 0.4 percent to $75.56 a barrel. Despite the pullback on the day, the price of crude oil jumped by 1.6 percent for the week.