Additional Support Anticipated For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting more than 40 points or 0.2 percent in that span. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 26,390 point plateau and it's expected to open in the green again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, with technology stocks expected to pull the markets higher. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished barely higher on Thursday as gains from the financial shares and properties were offset by weakness from the technology companies.

For the day, the index perked 0.60 points or 0.00 percent to finish at 26,389.04 after trading between 26,366.86 and 26,844.80.

Among the actives, AIA expanded 0.86 percent, while Alibaba Group surged 3.84 percent, Baidu spiked 2.47 percent, Bank of China jumped 1.34 percent, BOC Hong Kong sank 0.35 percent, China Life Insurance shed 0.27 percent, China Merchants Bank added 0.55 percent, China Mobile gained 0.17 percent, China Petroleum & Chemical stumbled 1.72 percent, China Shenhua Energy rose 0.14 percent, CNOOC slumped 0.98 percent, Hong Kong Exchange eased 0.05 percent, HSBC perked 0.13 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.57 percent, JD.com rallied 1.48 percent, Meituan retreated 2.17 percent, NetEase declined 1.29 percent, Nongfu Spring tumbled 2.40 percent, PetroChina contracted 1.27 percent, Ping An Insurance skidded 0.94 percent, Semiconductor Manufacturing tanked 3.57 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties soared 2.65 percent, Tencent Holdings dropped 0.52 percent, Xiaomi Corporation lost 0.25 percent, WuXi AppTec plummeted 5.24 percent, Zijin Mining plunged 4.12 percent and China Construction Bank, BYD and CITIC were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the trading day, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 370.26 points or 0.75 percent to finish at 50,063.46, while the NASDAQ rallied 232.88 points or 0.88 percent to end at a record 26,635.22 and the S&P 500 gained 56.99 points or 0.77 percent to close at 7,501.24, also a record.

Cisco Systems (CSCO) helped lead the markets higher after the company reported better than expected fiscal third quarter results and provided upbeat guidance.

Market leader and AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) also surged on reports that the U.S. has cleared around 10 Chinese firms to buy the company's second-most powerful AI chip, the H200.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said retail sales in the U.S. increased in line with estimates in April. Also, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week.

Crude oil prices inched higher on Thursday as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively shut amid a lack of progress in U.S.-Iran peace efforts. West Texas Intermediate crude for June was up $0.29 or 0.29 percent at $101.31 per barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will on Friday release Q1 numbers for gross domestic product later today; in the previous three months, GDP was up 2.9 percent on quarter and 5.9 percent on year.