Hong Kong Bourse Tipped To Open In The Green

The Hong Kong stock market on Thursday halted the three-day winning streak in which it had surged almost 1,050 points or 3.7. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 29,110-point plateau although it may see renewed support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat thanks to rising crude oil prices and solid economic data. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were firmly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financials and technology stocks, while the casinos were up and the properties and oil companies were mixed.

For the day, the index sank 193.96 points or 0.66 percent to finish at 29,113.50 after trading between 28,775.38 and 29,409.00.

Among the actives, Xiaomi Corporation plummeted 4.84 percent, while Meituan plunged 3.19 percent, China Resources Land tanked 2.43 percent, Ping An Insurance surged 2.17 percent, Galaxy Entertainment soared 2.12 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical tumbled 2.11 percent, AAC Technologies skidded 1.06 percent, Hang Lung Properties perked 1.02 percent, China Mengniu Dairy retreated 0.95 percent, China Life Insurance declined 0.73 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China surrendered 0.61 percent, Wharf Real Estate jumped 0.61 percent, Power Assets and CK Infrastructure both climbed 0.60 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) advanced 0.53 percent, WuXi Biologics sank 0.51 percent, CITIC dropped 0.49 percent, Alibaba Group and Hengan International both added 0.46 percent, BOC Hong Kong shed 0.44 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas lost 0.36 percent, New World Development fell 0.28 percent, Techtronic Industries gained 0.26 percent, ANTA Sports rose 0.22 percent, Sands China improved 0.16 percent, CNOOC eased 0.12 percent and AIA Group was up 0.10 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as stocks opened higher on Thursday and remained well in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow jumped 332.26 points or 1.08 percent to finish at 31,055.86, while the NASDAQ climbed 167.20 points or 1.23 percent to end at 13,777.74 and the S&P 500 gained 41.57 points or 1.09 percent to close at 3,871.74.

Easing concerns about speculative trading have helped drive the markets higher along with mostly upbeat earnings news from big-name companies.

Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to a report from the Labor Department showing a continued decline in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Traders have recently taken an optimistic view toward most economic data, seeing upbeat data as a positive for the economy while seeing disappointing data as putting pressure on lawmakers to pass more stimulus.

Crude oil futures were up Thursday for the fourth straight session on continued optimism that crude oil supplies will drop thanks to OPEC’s move to reduce output. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $0.54 or 1 percent at $56.23 a barrel.