Renewed Selling Pressure Expected For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - 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 winning streak in which it had rallied almost 550 points or 2.2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 25,900-point plateau and it's likely to open under water on Monday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to renewed tensions in the Middle East. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to lower and the Asian bourses are also expected to open under pressure. The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies. For the day, the index gained 141.14 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 25,893.54 after trading between 25,843.65 and 26,073.97. Among the actives, AIA climbed 0.51 percent, while Alibaba Group rallied 2.12 percent, Baidu dropped 0.91 percent, Bank of China gained 0.20 percent, BOC Hong Kong jumped 0.95 percent, BYD soared 3.24 percent, China Life Insurance spiked 3.19 percent, China Merchants Bank eased 0.20 percent, China Mobile advanced 0.50 percent, China Shenhua Energy slumped 1.14 percent, CITIC accelerated 2.68 percent, CNOOC shed 0.53 percent, Hong Kong Exchange and Zijin Mining both perked 0.05 percent, HSBC and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China both collected 0.58 percent, JD.com fell 0.27 percent, Meituan lost 0.45 percent, NetEase strengthened 0.79 percent, Nongfu Spring tanked 1.17 percent, PetroChina added 0.28 percent, Ping An Insurance vaulted 0.80 percent, Semiconductor Manufacturing surged 4.58 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties improved 0.36 percent, Tencent Holdings sank 0.79 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tumbled 1.47 percent, WuXi AppTec expanded 0.62 percent and China Construction Bank and China Petroleum & Chemical were unchanged. The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed on Friday and largely hugged the line throughout the trading day before ending little changed and on opposite sides. The Dow dropped 269.23 points or 0.56 percent to finish at 47,916.57, while the NASDAQ gained 80.49 points or 0.35 percent to close at 22,902.89 and the S&P 500 slipped 7.77 points or 0.11 percent to end at 6,816.89. For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 4.7 percent, the S&P rallied 3.6 percent and the Dow jumped 3.0 percent. The lackluster performance by the broader markets came amid lingering about whether the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East will hold; peace negotiations over the weekend also failed to produce a result. In economic news, the University of Michigan noted a significant deterioration in U.S. consumer sentiment in April. Also, the Labor Department showed consumer prices advanced by 0.9 percent in March, in line with estimates. Crude oil prices slumped Friday despite persistent tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was down $1.15 or 1.18 percent at $96.72 per barrel. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.