Hong Kong Bourse May Spin Its Wheels On Friday

The Hong Kong stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 410 points or 2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 20,400-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation on pessimism over corporate earnings and for energy demand. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished slightly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and mixed performances from the properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index added 29.21 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 20,396.97 after trading between 20,308.33 and 20,472.50.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group sank 0.54 percent, while Alibaba Health Info rose 0.35 percent, ANTA Sports gathered 0.30 percent, China Life Insurance soared 3.15 percent, China Mengniu Dairy slumped 1.24 percent, China Resources Land retreated 1.69 percent, CITIC gained 0.42 percent, CNOOC skidded 0.95 percent, Country Garden lost 0.29 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical declined 1.25 percent, Galaxy Entertainment climbed 0.69 percent, Hang Lung Properties rallied 1.12 percent, Henderson Land was up 0.19 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas advanced 0.59 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.23 percent, JD.com dropped 0.90 percent, Lenovo spiked 1.74 percent, Li Ning improved 0.26 percent, Meituan surged 3.54 percent, New World Development fell 0.24 percent, Techtronic Industries jumped 1.39 percent, Xiaomi Corporation added 0.50 percent and WuXi Biologics tumbled 2.61 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and remained in the red throughout the session.

The Dow stumbled 110.39 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 33,786.62, while the NASDAQ lost 97.67 points or 0.80 percent to finish at 12,059.56 and the S&P 500 fell 24.73 points or 0.60 percent to end at 4,129.79.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected disappointment in the latest earnings news from several big-name companies including Tesla (TSLA), AT&T (T) and America Express (AXP).

Negative sentiment was also generated by disappointing U.S. economic data, including a report from the Philadelphia Federal reserve showing regional manufacturing activity contracted at an accelerated rate in April.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Thursday, extending losses from the previous session amid rising concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May sank $1.87 or 2.4 percent at $77.29 a barrel on the expiration day, the lowest since March 31.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide March figures for consumer prices, with forecasts suggesting an annual increase of 1.8 percent – up from 1.7 percent in February.

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