Win Streak May Continue For Hong Kong Bourse

The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in six straight sessions, accelerating almost 550 points or 2 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just shy of the 26,900-point plateau and it's called to open higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism for a coronavirus vaccine. The European and U.S. markets were up on Friday and the Asian markets are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the financials and technology stocks were capped by weakness from the oil companies and casinos.

For the day, the index gained 75.23 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 26,894.68 after trading between 26,704.60 and 27,009.15.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China skyrocketed 4.28 percent, while China Life Insurance surged 3.01 percent, AAC Technologies soared 2.72 percent, China Resources Land spiked 2.40 percent, Xiaomi Corporation plunged 2.07 percent, Wharf Real Estate accelerated 1.62 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) tanked 1.57 percent, CNOOC tumbled 1.56 percent, WH Group rallied 1.55 percent, WuXi Biologics jumped 1.53 percent, AIA Group skidded 1.50 percent, New World Development climbed 1.47 percent, BOC Hong Kong collected 1.00 percent, Hang Lung Properties sank 0.99 percent, Ping An Insurance gathered 0.88 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical perked 0.66 percent, Techtronic Industries dropped 0.59 percent, Galaxy Entertainment shed 0.40 percent, Sands China lost 0.30 percent, Alibaba added 0.22 percent, China Mobile fell 0.21 percent, CITIC and Henderson Land both rose 0.16 percent, Power Assets eased 0.12 percent and CLP Holdings was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as stocks opened higher on Friday and stayed mostly in the green throughout the shortened session, although the Dow slipped briefly into the red before rebounding.

The Dow rose 37.90 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 29.910.37, while the NASDAQ climbed 111.44 points or 0.92 percent to 12,205.85 and the S&P 500 added 8.70 points or 0.24 percent to close at 3,638.35. For the week, the Dow added 2.2 percent, the NASDAQ gained 3 percent and the S&P rose 2.3 percent.

Optimism about a potential coronavirus vaccine has contributed to recent strength on Wall Street, although some questions have been raised about the efficacy of the vaccine being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca.

Nonetheless, overall trading activity was subdued in the shortened trading session, as many traders remained away from their desks following Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Friday but still managed to post a strong weekly gain. Rising optimism about coronavirus vaccine raised hopes that global energy demand will pick up and lifted crude oil prices in recent sessions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January fell $0.18 or 0.4 percent at $45.53 a barrel. WTI crude oil futures gained 8 percent for the week.