Hong Kong Stock Market May Hand Back Thursday’s Gains

The Hong Kong stock market on Thursday halted the two-day slide in which it had dropped more than 400 points 1.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 28,560-point plateau although it may turn lower again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed, with support from technology stocks and weakness from oil companies. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Thursday as gains from the technology stocks and casinos were capped by weakness from the properties and oil companies.

For the day, the index climbed 121.75 points or 0.43 percent to finish at the daily high of 28,558.59 after moving as low as 28,216.09.

Among the actives, AAC Technologies skyrocketed 6.06 percent, while AIA Group improved 0.11 percent, Alibaba Group increased 0.20 percent, Alibaba Health Info plunged 1.93 percent, ANTA Sports surged 3.37 percent, China Mengniu Dairy and Wharf Real Estate both rose 0.33 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) skidded 0.96 percent, China Resources Land rallied 1.11 percent, CITIC dropped 0.59 percent, CNOOC sank 0.67 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical spiked 1.54 percent, Galaxy Entertainment advanced 0.73 percent, Hang Lung Properties and CK Infrastructure both improved 0.10 percent, Henderson Land lost 0.52 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas jumped 0.83 percent, Longfor shed 0.55 percent, Meituan gained 0.42 percent, New World Development tumbled 0.99 percent, Sands China climbed 0.74 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties fell 0.42 percent, Techtronic Industries added 0.59 percent, Xiaomi Corporation accelerated 1.25 percent, WuXi Biologics soared 3.34 percent and China Life Insurance and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is wildly inconsistent as the major averages opened slightly higher on Thursday but then went off on their own different directions. The NASDAQ stayed positive, the Dow stayed negative and the S&P 500 hugged the line and finished barely in the red.

The Dow dropped 210.22 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 33,823.45, while the NASDAQ spiked 121.67 points or 0.87 percent to end at 14,161.35 and the S&P 500 eased 1.84 points or 0.04 percent to close at 4,221.86.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders moved out of cyclicals and into tech stocks after Wednesday’s announcement from the Federal Reserve, which saw the central bank move up its timeline for raising interest rates.

In economic news, the Labor Department noted an unexpected uptick in initial jobless claims last week. Also, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia showed Philadelphia-area manufacturing activity expanded at a slightly slower rate in June.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Thursday, weighed down by a stronger dollar after Federal Reserve officials projected that interest rates might be hiked by 2023. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended down by $1.11 or 1.5 percent at $71.04 a barrel.