Ahead of the long Christmas weekend, the Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in two straight sessions - advancing more than 340 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just shy of the 29,580-point plateau although the rally may stall on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat, with many traders away during the period between Christmas and New Year's - although support from crude oil prices may limit the downside. The European and U.S. markets were slightly lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.
The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the oil companies and properties were capped by weakness from the casinos.
For the day, the index jumped 210.95 points or 0.72 percent to finish at the daily high or 29,578.01 after moving as low as 29,413.86.
Among the actives, Lenovo Group surged 3.62 percent, while Sino Land climbed 1.49 percent, Galaxy Entertainment tumbled 1.82 percent, Henderson Land jumped 1.50 percent, Sands China skidded 1.37 percent, CNOOC spiked 1.28 percent, Kunlun Energy dropped 1.21 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) advanced 0.88 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas added 0.79 percent, Li & Fung gained 0.71 percent, New World Development picked up 0.53 percent, Ping An Insurance collected 0.49 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was up 0.48 percent and China Life and BOC Hong Kong were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is mildly negative as stocks saw modest weakness on Tuesday after the long weekend, although the selling pressure was subdued.
The Dow shed 7.85 points or 0.03 percent to 24,746.21, while the NASDAQ fell 23.71 points or 0.34 percent to 6,936.25 and the S&P 500 dipped 2.84 points or 0.11 percent to 2,680.50.
A decline by shares of Apple (AAPL) weighed on the tech-heavy NASDAQ, with the tech giant slumping 2.5 percent. Overall activity was light as many traders were still away after Christmas.
Volume may remain light throughout the week, although some traders may look to do some window dressing going into the end of the year.
Crude oil futures surged to the highest in two years Tuesday, extending recent gains after a Libyan pipeline blast threatened supplies from the region. On a quiet day in the markets after the Christmas holiday, February oil was up $1.50 or 2.6 percent to $59.97/bbl, the highest since June 2015.
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Market Analysis
June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.