(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, slumping more than 620 points or 3.5 percent in that span. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 17,450-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets remains upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Friday with damage in all sectors, especially among the finance, oil, property and technology companies.
For the day, the index plummeted 378.61 points or 2.12 percent to finish at 17,454.19 after trading between 17,413.46 and 17,631.04.
Among the actives, Alibaba Group plummeted 9.96 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plunged 6.33 percent, ANTA Sports surrendered 4,00 percent, China Life Insurance sank 1.44 percent, China Mengniu Dairy dropped 1.80 percent, China Resources Land stumbled 3.81 percent, CITIC retreated 2.50 percent, CNOOC slumped 2.15 percent, Country Garden tanked 4.55 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical climbed 1.18 percent, Galaxy Entertainment added 0.47 percent, Hang Lung Properties fell 0.90 percent, Henderson Land rose 0.23 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas was down 0.72 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China skidded 1.83 percent, JD.com declined 2.41 percent, Lenovo rallied 1.26 percent, Li Ning weakened 2.12 percent, Meituan tumbled 3.94 percent, New World Development shed 1.42 percent, Techtronic Industries slid 0.73 percent, Xiaomi Corporation jumped 1.53 percent and WuXi Biologics lost 1.05 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened lower on Friday but broke into the green by midday and finished with mild gains.
The Dow rose 1.78 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 34,947.28, while the NASDAQ added 11.78 points or 0.08 percent to close at 14,125.48 and the S&P 500 gained 5.78 points or 0.13 percent to end at 4,514.02.
For the week, the NASDAQ surged 2.4 percent, the S&P jumped 2.2 percent and the Row rallied 1.9 percent.
Optimism about the outlook for interest rates has contributed to the recent advance, as the latest data has shown signs of easing inflation.
In economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing an unexpected increase in new residential construction and building permits in October.
Crude oil futures spiked on Friday, but the most active futures contract still posted its fourth straight weekly loss amid concerns about the outlook for near term energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December jumped $2.99 or 4.1 percent at $75.89 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 4 percent in the week.
