Hong Kong Bourse May Spin Its Wheels On Friday

The Hong Kong stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 750 points or 2.6 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 29,110-point plateau and it may be stuck in neutral on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of key inflation data from the United States later in the day. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The Hang Seng finished slightly lower on Thursday following mixed performances from the properties and oil companies, while the technology shares offered support.

For the day, the index sank 52.81 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 29,113.20 after trading between 28,950.72 and 29,157.95.

Among the actives, AAC Technologies rallied 1.48 percent, AIA Group lost 0.20 percent, Alibaba Group added 0.87 percent, Alibaba Health Info plunged 1.70 percent, ANTA Sports advanced 0.96 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 0.61 percent, China Mengniu Dairy jumped 1.86 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) perked 0.97 percent, China Resources Land dipped 0.13 percent, CITIC gained 0.57 percent, CNOOC sank 0.82 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical accelerated 2.04 percent, Galaxy Entertainment tumbled 1.06 percent, Hang Lung Properties shed 0.50 percent, Henderson Land soared 2.74 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas fell 0.15 percent, Longfor and New World Development both tanked 1.30 percent, Meituan plummeted 2.79 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties gathered 1.09 percent, Techtronic Industries climbed 1.59 percent, Xiaomi Corporation surged 3.20 percent, WuXi Biologics spiked 2.28 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Sands China were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is conflicted as the Dow and S&P both opened in the green on Friday and finished the same way, while the NASDAQ saw a soft start and ended barely lower.

The Dow climbed 141.59 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 34,464.64, while the NASDAQ eased 1.72 points or 0.01 percent to close at 13,736.28 and the S&P 500 rose 4.89 points or 0.12 percent to end at 4,200.88.

The lackluster performance came as traders continued to look ahead to a highly anticipated reading on inflation later today. The inflation reading is said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve and could have a significant impact on the outlook for monetary policy.

Traders were also digesting a report from the Labor Department showing weekly jobless claims once again fell to a new pandemic-era low. The continued decrease in jobless claims paints a positive picture of the labor market but also raised concerns that the Fed will move closer to tapering its asset purchases in the near future.

Also, the Commerce Department showed an unexpected pullback in durable goods orders in April, and a separate report noted that the pace of U.S. economic growth in the first quarter was unrevised from the advance estimate.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Thursday, extending gains to a fifth straight session on following a drop in U.S. crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended up $0.64 or 1 percent at $66.85 a barrel.

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