Hong Kong Bourse May Run Out Of Steam On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in six straight sessions, collecting more than 1,150 points or 6.4 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 18,250-point plateau although its overdue for profit taking on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with profit taking likely on the docket after strong gains late last week. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are tipped to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Friday with gains across the board, especially among the technology, property and financial sectors.

For the day, the index rallied 245.37 points or 1.36 percent to finish at 18,258.57 after trading between 18,047.13 and 18,355.15.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group increased 1.75 percent, while Alibaba Health Info soared 5.02 percent, ANTA Sports rallied 3.25 percent, China Life Insurance gained 0.67 percent, China Mengniu Dairy improved 2.10 percent, China Resources Land jumped 2.64 percent, CITIC advanced 1.43 percent, CNOOC rose 0.53 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical surged 6.40 percent, Galaxy Entertainment accelerated 3.14 percent, Haier Smart Home climbed 2.38 percent, Hang Lung Properties increased 1.97 percent, Henderson Land strengthened 2.62 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas sank 0.78 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.92 percent, JD.com added 0.72 percent, Lenovo perked 0.11 percent, Li Auto jumped 2.77 percent, Li Ning spiked 4.77 percent, Meituan advanced 1.57 percent, New World Development surged 6.79 percent, Nongfu Spring strengthened 2.34 percent, Techtronic Industries soared 4,85 percent, Xiaomi Corporation gathered 0.40 percent and WuXi Biologics skyrocketed 10.40 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Friday and largely stayed that way, although the Dow broke barely into the green by the session's end.

The Dow added 38.16 points or 0.09 percent to finish at a record 42,063.36, while the NASDAQ slumped 65.68 points or 0.36 percent to close at 17,948.32 and the S7P 500 fell 11.09 points or 0.19 percent to end at 5,702.55.

For the week, the Dow jumped 1.6 percent, the NASDAQ climbed 1.5 percent and the S&P rallied 1.4 percent.

The early weakness on Wall Street partly reflected profit taking, with traders cashing in on Thursday's significant rally amid a positive reaction to the Federal Reserve's decision to slash interest rates by half of a percentage point.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as they question what the next catalyst for the markets will be now that the Fed's first rate cut is in the rearview mirror.

Oil futures settled slightly lower on Friday due largely to profit taking by traders after solid gains last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October eased $0.03 at $71.92 a barrel.