Profit Taking Likely For Hong Kong Stock Market Edit My Quotes

Profit Taking Likely For Hong Kong Stock Market Edit My Quotes

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has tracked higher in consecutive trading days, accelerating almost 600 points or 2.5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 24,925-point plateau although it's due for a downward correction on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growing concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourse were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index advanced 94.36 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 24,924.35 after trading between 24,649.74 and 25,050.59.

Among the actives, AAC Technologies climbed 1.48 percent, while AIA Group tumbled 0.81 percent, Alibaba Group spiked 2.86 percent, Alibaba Health Info soared 3.21 percent, ANTA Sports perked 0.23 percent, China Life Insurance collected 1.12 percent, China Mengniu Dairy jumped 1.65 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) sank 0.71 percent, China Resources Land accelerated 2.85 percent, CITIC strengthened 1.60 percent, Country Garden surged 4.35 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical added 1.34 percent, Hang Lung Properties was up 0.12 percent, Henderson Land rose 0.72 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas and ENN Energy both dipped 0.16 percent, Li Ning increased 0.24 percent, Longfor advanced 1.41 percent, Meituan and New World Development both rallied 1.66 percent, Techtronic Industries gained 1.04 percent, Xiaomi Corporation improved 0.60 percent, WuXi Biologics plummeted 5.36 percent and Galaxy Entertainment, CNOOC and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China were unchanged.

Profit Taking Likely For Hong Kong Stock Market Edit My Quotes

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and the losses accelerated as the session progressed.

The Dow plummeted 526.47 points or 1.47 percent to finish at 35,241.59, while the NASDAQ tumbled 304.73 points or 2.10 percent to close at 14,185.64 and the S&P 500 sank 83.10 points or 1.81 percent to end at 4,504.08.

The sell-off on Wall Street came after the Labor Department said the annual rate of growth in consumer prices accelerated more than expected in January. The data raised concerns that the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates more aggressively to fight elevated inflation.

Selling pressure accelerated after comments from St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard, who indicated he supports raising interest rates by 50 basis points next month as part of a plan to raise rates by a full percentage point by the start of July.

Crude oil futures settled higher Thursday, gaining for a second straight day as falling crude inventories continued to support the commodity's prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $0.22 or 0.25 percent at $89.88 a barrel.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.