Win Streak May Continue For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in three straight sessions, advancing more than 620 points or 2.4 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 25,800-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Monday.

The global forecast for the oversold Asian markets is positive, thanks to a jump in crude oil prices and with more bargain hunting expected. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up - and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financials, casinos and oil and insurance companies.

For the day, the index surged 535.12 points or 2.12 percent to finish at 25,801.49 after trading between 25,286.86 and 25,835.76.

Among the actives, Tencent Holdings skyrocketed 8.01 percent, while Galaxy Entertainment surged 6.66 percent, China Resources Land soared 5.79 percent, AIA Group spiked 4.05 percent, Sands China jumped 3.62 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical climbed 3.45 percent, China Life Insurance advanced 2.76 percent, WH Group perked 2.23 percent, Ping An Insurance gathered 2.22 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 2.13 percent, CNOOC added 1.54 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) gained 1.34 percent, China Mengniu Dairy was up 1.32 percent, China Mobile shed 0.64 percent, New World Development lost 0.30 percent and Hong Kong & China Gas was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as stocks fluctuated on Friday but finished the session with solid gains.

The Dow climbed 287.16 points or 1.15 percent to 25,339.99, while the NASDAQ spiked 167.83 points or 2.29 percent and the S&P jumped 38.76 points or 1.42 percent to 2,767.13. For the week, the Dow shed 4.2 percent, the NASDAQ dropped 3.7 percent and the S&P skidded 4.1 percent.

Bargain hunting contributed to the higher close on Wall Street, with the major averages bouncing off the multi-month closing lows set on Thursday.

In economic news, the Labor Department reported a bigger than expected increase in U.S. import prices in September, while export prices were unchanged. Also, the University of Michigan showed a drop in consumer sentiment in October.

Crude oil prices moved higher Friday, recovering from recent losses on easing concerns about economic and demand slowdown. Crude oil futures for November ended up $0.37, or 0.5 percent, at $71.34 a barrel. For the week, crude oil futures tumbled 4 percent after gains in four consecutive weeks.