Soft Start Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has tracked lower in two straight sessions, dropping almost 750 points or 2.9 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 25,275-point plateau and it's expected to extend its losses again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on soaring crude oil prices and pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index slumped 223.26 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 25,277.32 after trading between 25,121.46 and 25,563.88.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group plunged 6.29 percent, while Alibaba Health Info tanked 2.60 percent, ANTA Sports shed 0.84 percent, China Life Insurance eased 0.14 percent, China Mengniu Dairy fell 0.55 percent, China Resources Land slipped 0.47 percent, CITIC added 0.61 percent, CNOOC surged 2.70 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical stumbled 2.44 percent, Galaxy Entertainment spiked 1.30 percent, Haier Smart Home dropped 0.98 percent, Hang Lung Properties contracted 1.44 percent, Henderson Land surrendered 2.20 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas skidded 1.08 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.30 percent, JD.com retreated 1.90 percent, Lenovo slumped 1.39 percent, Li Auto accelerated 1.21 percent, Li Ning skyrocketed 8.56 percent, Meituan tumbled 1.92 percent, New World Development declined 1.56 percent, Nongfu Spring lost 0.70 percent, Techtronic Industries rose 0.09 percent, Xiaomi Corporation plummeted 8.59 percent and WuXi Biologics sank 0.88 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened in the red on Friday and continued to weaken as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 443.96 points or 0.96 percent to finish at 45,577.47, while the NASDAQ plunged 443.08 points or 2.01 percent to close at 21,647.61 and the S&P 500 sank 100.01 points or 1.51 percent to end at 6,506.48. For the week, the Dow and NASDAQ both plunged 2.1 percent and the S&P lost 1.9 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid continued volatility by the price of crude oil, which has been a key driver of trading in recent sessions and showed wild swings over the course of the day.

Crude oil prices surged on Friday as fresh attacks on Kuwait by Iran renewed concerns of a prolonged gulf war, stoking production disruption worries. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up by $1.68 or 1.75 percent at $97.82 per barrel.

Oil prices remain sharply higher compared to when the war began, fueling concerns about the outlook for inflation and interest rates. CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicates the Federal Reserve is not likely to cut interest rates this year and there's a chance rates could even be higher by the end of the year.