The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in five straight sessions, gathering almost 1,470 points or 8.7 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 17,650-point plateau and it has a strong lead again for Monday's trade.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on upbeat inflation data and support from the oil and technology companies. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.
The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Friday with gains across the board, especially among the technology and property stocks.
For the day, the index surged 366.65 point or 2.12 percent to finish at 17,651.15 after trading between 17,336.20 and 17,758.24.
Among the actives, Alibaba Group improved 3.15 percent, while Alibaba Health Info skyrocketed 7.27 percent, ANTA Sports added 1.12 percent, China Life Insurance collected 1.78 percent, China Mengniu Dairy gained 2.03 percent, China Resources Land surged 6.72 percent, CITIC perked 1.21 percent, CNOOC climbed 3.58 percent, Country Garden rallied 4.69 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical gathered 1.23 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rose 1.57 percent, Hang Lung Properties rose 0.36 percent, Henderson Land gained 0.85 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas shed 0.66 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China sank 0.48 percent, JD.com accelerated 5.75 percent, Lenovo advanced 2.38 percent, Li Ning soared 6.03 percent, Meituan strengthened 3.68 percent, New World Development increased 2.91 percent, Techtronic Industries added 2.16 percent, Xiaomi Corporation jumped 4.58 percent and WuXi Biologics spiked5.81 percent
The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.
The Dow climbed 153.86 points or 0.40 percent to finish at 38,239.66, while the NASDAQ surged 316.10 points or 2.02 percent to end at 15,927.90 and the S&P 500 rallied 51.54 points or 1.02 percent to close at 5.099.96.
For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 4.2 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 2.7 percent and the Dow added 0.7 percent.
The rally on Wall Street came amid a positive reaction to some of the latest earnings news from big-name tech companies such as Alphabet (GOOGL), software giant Microsoft (MSFT) and Snap (SNAP).
Traders also reacted positively to closely watched readings on inflation released by the Commerce Department showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with estimates in March.
Treasury yields moved lower following the release of the report, which may have helped mitigate any negative response to the data.
Oil prices edged higher on Friday on optimism about the outlook for oil demand and concerns about supply. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.28 or 0.34 percent at $83.85 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 0.85 percent in the week.
Market Analysis