(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in back-to-back trading days, advancing more than 450 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 29,075-point plateau and it may continue its upward climb on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian market is cautiously optimistic, with upside limited by surging coronavirus cases in India. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the technology and financial shares, weakness from the oil companies and casinos and a mixed picture from the property sector.
For the day, the index jumped 323.41 points or 1.12 percent to finish at the daily high of 29,078.75 after moving as low as 28,748.57.
Among the actives, AAC Technologies dipped 0.11 percent, while AIA Group advanced 1.14 percent, Alibaba Group perked 1.36 percent, Alibaba Health Info surged 5.31 percent, ANTA Sports gathered 1.47 percent, China Mengniu Dairy skidded 0.35 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) plummeted 2.00 percent, China Resources Land tanked 1.60 percent, CITIC climbed 1.78 percent, CNOOC and New World Development both fell 0.12 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical accelerated 3.33 percent, Galaxy Entertainment tumbled 1.02 percent, Hang Lung Properties plunged 1.83 percent, Henderson Land gained 0.72 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas added 0.81 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 1.50 percent, Longfor eased 0.10 percent, Meituan soared 4.93 percent, Sands China sank 0.27 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties rose 0.51 percent, Techtronic Industries rallied 2.53 percent, Xiaomi Corporation jumped 2.27 percent, WuXi Biologics spiked 4.36 percent and China Life Insurance and Power Assets were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages showed a strong move to the upside, picking up steam as the session progressed.
The Dow spiked 227.59 points or 0.67 percent, while the NASDAQ jumped 198.39 points or 1.44 percent to end at 14,016.81 and the S&P 500 gained 45.19 points or 1.09 percent to close at 4,180.17. For the week, the Dow fell 0.5 percent, the NASDAQ shed 1.4 percent and the S&P eased 0.1 percent.
The rebound on Wall Street partly reflected the volatility seen over the past few sessions, which saw the major averages show big swings back-and-forth.
Optimism about the economic recovery has helped prop up the markets, although concerns about high valuations and surging coronavirus cases overseas have led to worries about the near-term outlook.
In economic news, the Commerce Department reported a substantial rebound in new home sales in March, sending sales to their highest level since August 2006.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Friday, lifted by buoyant demand for energy in the U.S. despite a weak global outlook. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for June ended up by $0.71 or 1.2 percent at $62.14 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 1.7 percent in the week.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
