Bargain Hunting Likely To Lift Hong Kong Shares

The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in six straight sessions, retreating almost 1,300 points or 6.8 percent in that span. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 17,950-point plateau although it’s overdue for support on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement, although bargain hunting would likely limit any downside. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Friday following huge losses among the technology stocks, while the financials and properties also ended well in the red.

For the day, the index plunged 375.75 points or 2.05 percent to finish at 17,950.85 after trading between 17,936.43 and 18,336.41.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group tumbled 3.44 percent, Alibaba Health Info plummeted 10.31 percent, ANTA Sports skidded 2.52 percent, China Life Insurance was down 0.52 percent, China Mengniu Dairy and New World, Development both fell 1.17 percent, China Resources Land sank 2.45 percent, CITIC retreated 2.81 percent, CNOOC rose 0.16 percent, Country Garden jumped 1.86 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical weakened 2.59 percent, Galaxy Entertainment stumbled 3.33 percent, Hang Lung Properties lost 1.75 percent, Henderson Land dipped 0.70 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas slid 1.01 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China eased 0.29 percent, JD.com plunged 5.34 percent, Lenovo tanked 4.95 percent, Li Ning surrendered 4.05 percent, Meituan slumped 2.77 percent, Techtronic Industries dropped 2.48 percent, Xiaomi Corporation shed 1.84 percent and WuXi Biologics declined 2.91 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Friday but recovered to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 25.96 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 34,500.66, while the NASDAQ shed 26.12 points or 0.20 percent to close at 13,290.78 and the S&P 500 eased 0.65 points or 0.01 percent to end at 4,369.71.

For the week, the Dow shed 2.2 percent, the S&P lost 2.1 percent and the NASDAQ sank 2.6 percent.

The lack of direction on Wall Street came as traders remained cautious amid concerns the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates higher for longer to control inflation.

The market had maintained a negative bias thanks to hawkish minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy meeting and higher bond yields, but bargain hunting pared the losses.

Oil prices climbed higher Friday, extending gains from the previous session after data indicated a drop in output, while a weaker dollar contributed as well to the uptick in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures added $0.86 or 1.1 percent to $81.25 a barrel. WTI Crude futures shed 2 percent for the week.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will see July numbers for consumer prices later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.2 percent on month and 1.9 percent on year – steady from the June reading.