(RTTNews) – The Hong Kong stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had surged almost 1,150 points or 5.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 19,915-point plateau although it’s expected to rebound on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on easing concerns over the health of financial sectors. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financials and oil companies, while the technology shares were mixed.
For the day, the index slumped 133.92 points or 0.67 percent to finish at 19,915.68 points after trading between 19,834.45 and 20,118.29.
Among the actives, Alibaba Group sank 1.04 percent, while Alibaba Health Info surged 3.57 percent, ANTA Sports climbed 1.44 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 1.80 percent, China Mengniu Dairy soared 2.06 percent, China Resources Land stumbled 1.26 percent, CITIC dropped 1.09 percent, CNOOC declined 1.39 percent, Country Garden plummeted 4.87 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical retreated 1.29 percent, Galaxy Entertainment shed 0.77 percent, Hang Lung Properties jumped 1.47 percent, Henderson Land slid 0.37 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas lost 0.72 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slumped 1.17 percent, Lenovo skyrocketed 8.25 percent, Li Ning skidded 1.15 percent, Meituan fell 0.64 percent, New World Development was down 0.23 percent, Techtronic Industries tumbled 1.44 percent, Xiaomi Corporation rallied 1.80 percent, WuXi Biologics plunged 3.55 percent and JD.com and CK Infrastructure were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages shook off early weakness, improving as the day progressed to finish solidly in the green.
The Dow climbed 132.33 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 32,237.53, while the NASDAQ added 36.56 points or 0.31 percent to close at 11,823.96 and the S&P 500 rose 22.27 points or 0.56 percent to end at 3,970.99.
For the week, the Dow jumped 1.2 percent, the NASDAQ climbed 1.7 percent and the S&P gained 1.4 percent.
The early weakness on Wall Street came on renewed concerns about the health of the banking sector. U.S.-listed shares of Deutsche Bank (DB) moved sharply lower in early trading amid a spike by the German lender’s credit default swaps, while Credit Suisse (CS) and UBS Group (UBS) also came under pressure.
Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, as traders felt the banking concerns may have been overdone amid optimism the Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its tightening cycle.
Crude oil prices fell on Friday, extending losses from the previous session amid concerns that rising interest rates might hurt growth and result in a drop in energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended lower by $0.70 or 1 percent at $69.26 a barrel.
Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide February figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In January, imports were down 30.2 percent on year and exports slumped an annual 36.7 percent for a trade deficit of HKD25.4 billion.
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