(RTTNews) – The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, slumping almost 1,000 points or 4.3 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 24,960-point plateau and it’s looking at another rough session on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative with heavy pressure likely among technology companies. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.
The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Friday as the financials, properties and technology stocks ended mostly in the red.
For the day, the index skidded 192.45 points or 1.15 percent to finish at 24,961.85 after trading between 24,928.14 and 25,216.18.
Among the actives, AIA plunged 3.52 percent, while Alibaba Group shed 0.89 percent, Baidu cratered 3.46 percent, Bank of China climbed 1.14 percent, China Construction Bank jumped 1.99 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 1.18 percent, China Mobile rose 0.21 percent, China Petroleum & Chemical weakened 1.38 percent, China Shenhua Energy sank 1.03 percent, CITIC declined 1.45 percent, CNOOC stumbled 1.78 percent, Hong Kong Exchange skidded 1.10 percent, HSBC crashed 3.14 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China vaulted 1.64 percent, JD.com added 0.70 percent, Lenovo lost 0.48 percent, Meituan rallied 1.72 percent, NetEase tanked 2.33 percent, Nongfu Spring retreated 1.49 percent, Ping An Insurance fell 0.26 percent, Semiconductor Manufacturing plummeted 7.18 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties surrendered 2.26 percent, Tencent Holdings slumped 1.26 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tumbled 2.04 percent, WuXi AppTec gained 0.81 percent, Zijin Mining dropped 1.08 percent and BOC Hong Kong, China Life Insurance and PetroChina were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened lower on Friday and accelerated deeper into the red throughout the day, ending at session lows.
The Dow plunged 695.15 points or 1.35 percent to finish at 50,866.78, while the NASDAQ cratered 1,121.53 points or 4.18 percent to close at 25,709.43 and the S&P 500 tumbled 200.57 points or 2.64 percent to end at 7,383.74.
For the week, the NASDAQ plummeted 4.7 percent, the S&P 500 dove 2.9 percent and the Dow dipped 0.3 percent.
The sell-off on Wall Street came as technology stocks remained under pressure amid concerns about valuations.
Profit taking also contributed to the substantial weakness following recent strength in the markets, which lifted them to record closing highs.
A sharp increase by treasury yields also weighed on Wall Street, with yields surging following the release of stronger than expected U.S. jobs data.
Crude oil prices slumped on Friday on optimism that the Strait of Hormuz may re-open in the coming days. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was down $2.97 or 2.97 percent at $90.07 per barrel.
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