(RTTNews) – The Hong Kong stock market on Friday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had rallied almost 750 points or 3.5 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 23,790-point plateau although it’s likely to find renewed support on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, thanks to upbeat employment data out of the United States. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow the latter lead.
The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, oil companies and technology stocks, while the property sector was mixed.
For the day, the index slumped 114.43 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 23,792.54 after trading between 23,773.36 and 23,951.14.
Among the actives, Alibaba Group retreated 1.44 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plummeted 2.81 percent, ANTA Sports added 0.52 percent, China Life Insurance shed 0.36 percent, China Mengniu Dairy stumbled 1.76 percent, China Resources Land and CLP Holdings both sank 0.38 percent, CITIC rallied 1.36 percent, CNOOC dipped 0.11 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical skyrocketed 12.72 percent, Galaxy Entertainment dropped 0.44 percent, Haier Smart Home jumped 1.53 percent, Hang Lung Properties declined 1.09 percent, Henderson Land surged 1.65 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas perked 0.15 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 0.34 percent, JD.com tumbled 1.45 percent, Lenovo rose 0.33 percent, Li Ning slumped 0.52 percent, Meituan tanked 1.87 percent, New World Development climbed 1.31 percent, Nongfu Spring spiked 1.54 percent, Techtronic Industries gained 0.49 percent, Xiaomi Corporation plunged 2.12 percent, WuXi Biologics skidded 1.00 percent and Li Auto, Hengan International and China Red Mixc were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained in the green throughout the trading day, ending near session highs.
The Dow surged 443.13 points or 1.05 percent to finish at 42,762.87, while the NASDAQ rallied 231.50 points or 1.20 percent to close at 19,529.95 and the S&P 500 gained 61.06 points or 1.03 percent to end at 6,000.36.
The rally on Wall Street followed the release of the closely watched Labor Department report showing slightly stronger than expected U.S. job growth in May.
The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment shot up by 139,000 jobs in May after jumping by a downwardly revised 147,000 jobs in April. Economists had expected employment to increase by about 130,000 jobs.
The modestly bigger than expected increase in employment helped offset concerns about the strength of the economy following some recent downbeat data.
Crude oil prices move higher on Friday in response to the better-than-expected jobs data. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was up $1.21 to $64.58 per barrel; it was up 6 percent for the week.
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