The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day losing streak in which it had tumbled more than 700 points or 2.3 percent. The Hang Seng Index settled just above the 26,760-point plateau, although the market may see renewed selling pressure on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild consolidation, thanks to ongoing concerns over the Greek debt crisis. The European and U.S. markets were down on Friday, and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.
The Hang Seng finished slightly higher on Friday as gains from the financials and oil companies were capped by weakness from the insurance companies - while the properties and telecoms were mixed.
For the day, the index advanced 65.87 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 26,760.53 after trading between 26,701.72 and 27, 011.95 on turnover of 140.61 billion Hong Kong dollars.
Among the actives, CKH Holdings jumped 2.46 percent, while HSBC collected 0.14 percent, New World Development shed 0.78 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties advanced 1.98 percent, PetroChina gained 0.93 percent, China Mobile climbed 0.56 percent, China Unicom lost 0.50 percent, Pin An Insurance dropped 2.27 percent and China Life retreated 1.82 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks moved lower on Friday, although selling pressure remained relatively subdued.
The Dow slid 101.56 points or 0.6 percent to 18,014.28, while the NASDAQ dipped 15.95 points or 0.3 percent to 5,117.00 and the S&P 500 fell 11.48 points or 0.5 percent to 2,109.76.For the week, the NASDAQ jumped 1.3 percent, and the Dow and the S&P 500 advanced 0.6 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.
The weakness was due to profit taking following recent gains, which lifted the tech-heavy NASDAQ to new record highs a day earlier.
Concerns about the situation in Greece also weighed on the markets as the debt-laden country remains at an impasse with its international creditors.
A lack of major U.S. economic data also kept some traders on the sidelines ahead of the release of key reports this week.
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