The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in seven straight sessions, sinking more than 730 points or 2.4 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 28,740-point plateau although it may finally find traction on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic following encouraging inflation data from the United States. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The Hang Seng finished barely lower on Thursday as losses from the financials, casinos and energy producers were offset by support from the properties and technology stocks.
For the day, the index eased 3.72 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 28,738.88 after trading between 28,664.94 and 28,954.40.
Among the actives, AAC Technologies retreated 0.92 percent, while AIA Group declined 0.78 percent, Alibaba Group dipped 0.19 percent, Alibaba Health Info tumbled 1.44 percent, ANTA Sports and Hang Lung Properties both sank 0.71 percent, China Life Insurance lost 0.50 percent, China Mengniu Dairy dropped 0.65 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) fell 0.48 percent, China Resources Land rose 0.41 percent, CITIC skidded 1.20 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical and Techtronic Industries both gained 0.66 percent, Galaxy Entertainment shed 0.64 percent, Henderson Land increased 0.39 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas climbed 0.82 percent, HSBC surrendered 1.55 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slid 0.40 percent, Longfor and Meituan both soared 1.64 percent, New World Development added 0.72 percent, Sands China was down 0.74 percent. Sun Hung Kai Properties advanced 0.74 percent, Xiaomi Corporation jumped 0.90 percent, WuXi Biologics spiked 1.31 percent and CNOOC was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as stocks opened higher on Thursday, tumbled shortly thereafter but rebounded to end in the green.
The Dow added 19.10 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 34,466.24, while the NASDAQ jumped 108.58 points or 0.78 percent to end at 14,020.33 and the SYP 500 rose 19.63 points or 0.47 percent to close at 4,239.18.
The higher close on Wall Street followed the release of a highly anticipated Labor Department report showing a bigger than expected increase in consumer prices in May.
Also, the Labor Department reported another modest decrease in first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week.
Crude oil futures moved higher on Thursday amid optimism energy demand will pick up gradually following an Energy Information Administration (EIA) report that showed a big drop in U.S. crude stockpiles last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended up by $0.33 or 0.5 percent at $70.29 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Hong Kong Bourse May Snap Lengthy Losing Streak
2021-06-11 01:15:36