Hong Kong Shares Poised To End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, stumbling almost 1,100 points or 5.2 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just shy of the 20,080-point plateau although it's due for support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on decent earnings and economic news. The European markets were up 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 Thursday following losses from the financials, properties, technology stocks and oil companies.

For the day, the index slumped 207.75 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 20,079.10 after trading between 19,977.35 and 20,783.35.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group and JD.com both slipped 0.45 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plunged 4.87 percent, ANTA Sports declined 2.83 percent, China Life Insurance and Henderson Land both added 0.39 percent, China Mengniu Dairy stumbled 2.63 percent, China Resources Land plummeted 5.79 percent, CITIC was down 0.33 percent, CNOOC eased 0.31 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical skidded 1.78 percent, Galaxy Entertainment fell 1.16 percent, Haier Smart Home shed 1.46 percent, Hang Lung Properties tanked 4.30 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China sank 1.47 percent, Lenovo slid 0.91 percent, Li Auto surrendered 3.88 percent, Li Ning slumped 2.61 percent, Meituan dropped 1.73 percent, New World Development tumbled 3.29 percent, Nongfu Spring dipped 0.34 percent, Techtronic Industries lost 1.41 percent, Xiaomi Corporation jumped 1.76 percent, WuXi Biologics retreated 3.19 percent and Hong Kong & China Gas and CLP Holdings were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but ebbed and flowed as the day progressed, finally ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow climbed 161.35 points or 0.37 percent to finish at a record 43,239.05, while the NASDAQ rose 6.53 points or 0.04 percent to close at 18,373.61 and the S&P 500 dipped 1.00 point or 0.02 percent to end at 5,841.47.

Strength among semiconductor stocks supported the markets for much of the session before a late-day pullback, although the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index still ended up 1.0 percent.

The strength in the sector came after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) reported a sharp increase in third quarter profits.

In economic news, Commerce Department said retail sales increased more than expected in September. Also, the Labor Department noted an unexpected pullback by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Oil futures snapped a four-day losing streak on Thursday, supported by data showing an unexpected drop in crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November added $0.28 or 0.4 percent at $70.67 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will see September figures for unemployment later today; in August, the jobless rate was 3.0 percent.