The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day losing streak in which it had plummeted nearly 950 points or 2.6 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 28,610-point plateau and now it's tipped to move higher again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism for the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.
The Hang Seng finished barely lower on Friday as losses from the technology stocks were offset by gains from the financials, properties and casinos.
For the day, the index dipped 26.85 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 28,610.65 after trading between 28,530.71 and 28,884.03.
Among the actives, AAC Technologies plunged 2.35 percent, while AIA Group spiked 2.27 percent. Alibaba Group sank 0.81 percent, Alibaba Health Info improved 0.44 percent, ANTA Sports lost 0.55 percent, China Life Insurance increased 0.38 percent, China Mengniu Dairy and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) both added 0.97 percent, China Resources Land shed 0.66 percent, CITIC surged 2.81 percent, CNOOC gained 0.93 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical dropped 0.73 percent, Galaxy Entertainment was up 0.30 percent, Hang Lung Properties accelerated 2.02 percent, Henderson Land perked 1.42 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas soared 2.31 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 1.00 percent, Longfor advanced 1.34 percent, Meituan tumbled 1.05 percent, New World Development gathered 1.58 percent, Sands China dipped 0.14 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties rose 0.76 percent, Techtronic Industries rallied 1.63 percent, Xiaomi Corporation retreated 0.98 percent and WuXi Biologics plummeted 4.23 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened mostly higher on Friday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.
The Dow jumped 229.26 points or 0.66 percent to finish at 34,777.76, while the NASDAQ spiked 119.44 points or 0.88 percent to end at 13,752.24 and the S&P 500 added 30.98 points or 0.74 percent to close at 4,232.60. For the week, the Dow surged 2.7 percent, the NASDAQ fell 1.5 percent and the S&P 500 gained 1.2 percent.
The strength on Wall Street followed the closely watched Labor Department report showing weaker than expected job growth in April. Traders reacted positively to this because the it reinforced the view the Federal Reserve will leave ultra-easy monetary policy in place for the foreseeable future.
The data led to a particularly strong upward move by high-growth tech stocks, which are seen as more susceptible to higher interest rates.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Friday on optimism for increased demand in Europe and the U.S. although gains were capped by coronavirus concerns in Asia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended up $0.19 or 0.3 percent at $64.90 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained about 2.1 percent in the week.
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