Little Movement Expected For Hang Seng

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of the five-day losing streak in which it had given up more than 850 points or 3 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 24,750-point plateau and it's likely to be rangebound again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on concerns over crude oil prices and the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the technology and manufacturing sectors were offset by weakness among the energy and resource shares.

For the day, the index added 36.98 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 24,750.78 after trading between 24,703.92 and 24,862.98.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed and slumped midday before ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow sank 95.36 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 51,682.64, while the NASDAQ climbed 104.24 points or 0.39 percent to end at 26,522.54 and the S&P 500 rose 12.74 points or 0.17 percent to close at 7,650.50.

For the week, the NASDAQ added 0.7 percent, the S&P 500 eased 0.1 percent and the Dow slumped 1.7 percent.

The choppy trading on the day came amid a mixed performance by crude oil prices and treasury yields, which have been key drivers of trading in recent sessions.

Oil prices moved lower amid optimism about a potential de-escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, but treasury yields jumped due to ongoing worries about the outlook for interest rates.

Crude oil prices slumped on Friday, extending losses as investors anticipate upcoming meetings between the U.S. and gulf leaders to de-escalate Middle East tensions. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was down $1.74 or 1.71 percent at $100.17 per barrel.

On the U.S. economic front, the Fed reported that industrial production unexpectedly came in flat in August, with a jump in utilities output offset by a decrease in manufacturing output.