Hong Kong Shares Tipped To Open To The Downside

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in five straight sessions, retreating more than 700 points or 3.7 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 19,060-point plateau and it's expected to extend its misery when it opens on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative after strong U.S. employment data weighed heavily on the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets ended firmly in the red and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Friday with damage across the board, especially among the financials, properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index declined 176.61 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 19,064.29 after trading between 19,036.64 and 19,370.49.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group sank 1.24 percent, while Alibaba Health Info declined 2.77 percent, ANTA Sports slid 0.64 percent, China Life Insurance tumbled 4.38 percent, China Mengniu Dairy tanked 4.61 percent, China Resources Land dropped 1.37 percent, CITIC fell 0.84 percent, CNOOC dipped 0.32 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical weakened 2.02 percent, Galaxy Entertainment slumped 1.94 percent, Haier Smart Home surrendered 3.30 percent, Hang Lung Properties shed 1.15 percent, Henderson Land was down 0.22 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rose 0.17 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China eased 0.20 percent, JD.com skidded 1.73 percent, Lenovo plummeted 4.89 percent, Li Auto added 0.51 percent, Li Ning plunged 4.75 percent, Meituan stumbled 2.98 percent, New World Development, Nongfu Spring retreated 2.96 percent, Techtronic Industries lost 0.86 percent, Xiaomi Corporation slipped 0.59 percent and WuXi Biologics jumped 1.65 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday and stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow plummeted 696.75 points or 1.63 percent to finish at 41,938.45, while the NASDAQ tumbled 317.27 points or 1.63 percent to close at 19,161.63 and the S&P 500 dropped 91.21 points or 1.54 percent to end at 5,827.04.

The weakness on Wall Street was the result of buoyant non-farm payroll data, which raised concerns that the Federal Reserve will likely hold interest rates at current levels or slow down the pace of reductions.

While the report points to continued strength in the labor market, the data is also likely to give the Federal Reserve confidence in its plan to gradually lower interest rates over the coming year.

Oil prices rose sharply on Friday, riding on the Biden Administration's decision to impose additional sanctions on Russia's oil exports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed higher by $2.65 or 3.6 percent at $76.57 a barrel, the highest settlement in three months.