Soft Start Seen For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Friday ended the four-day slide in which it had tumbled almost 370 points or 1.5 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 25,650-point plateau although it may open under water again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the technology, finance and retail sectors.

For the day, the index rallied 437.57 points or 1.74 percent to finish at 25,650.87 after trading between 25,515.74 and 25,791.38.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Friday and spent the whole day firmly under water, finishing near session lows.

The Dow dropped 271.85 points or 0.51 percent to finish at 53,414.25, while the NASDAQ sank 77.11 points or 0.29 percent to close at 26,506.99 and the S&P 500 fell 29.11 points or 0.38 percent to end at 77,18.60. For the week, the Dow dipped 0.5 percent, the NASDAQ rose 0.4 percent and the S&P perked 0.1 percent.

The pullback on Wall Street came amid renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates following the release of much stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data for August.

Treasury yields jumped in reaction to the report, as the strong data could make the Federal Reserve more comfortable about raising interest rates later this month in an effort to fight sticky inflation.

According to CME Group's FedWatch Tool, the chances the Fed will raise rates by a quarter point have bounced back to 58.4 percent after falling below 50 percent last week.

Crude oil prices eased on Friday, reversing gains from the two previous sessions as the U.S. and Iran refrained from any military attacks. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery dipped $0.15 or 0.16 percent at $91.15 per barrel.