The Hong Kong stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the three-day losing streak in which it had given away almost 600 points or 2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just shy of the 31,050-point plateau although it's expected to see renewed selling pressure on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on global trade uncertainties and a stall in crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were slightly lower on Friday and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.
The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the oil companies, utilities and properties.
For the day, the index advanced 105.76 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 31,047.91 after trading between 30,904.68 and 31,148.06.
Among the actives, CNOOC surged 3.43 percent, while China Resources Land soared 3.01 percent, WH Group spiked 2.56 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) jumped 2.37 percent, China Mengniu Dairy tumbled 1.64 percent, Lenovo Group skidded 1.05 percent, BOC Hong Kong dropped 0.62 percent, Sands China climbed 0.53 percent, AIA Group advanced 0.42 percent, Ping An Insurance shed 0.38 percent, New World Development added 0.33 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas gained 0.24 percent, Tencent Holdings was up 0.21 percent, China Mobile collected 0.07 percent and China Life, Galaxy Entertainment, Sun Hung Kai Properties and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China all were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street suggests mild consolidation as stocks showed a lack of direction on Friday, extending the lackluster performance in the previous session before finishing mixed.
The Dow added 1.11 points or 0.01 percent to 24,715.09, the NASDAQ fell 28.13 points or 0.38 percent to 7,354.34 and the S&P 500 dipped 7.16 points or 0.26 percent to 2,712.97. For the week, the NASDAQ slid 0.7 percent and the Dow and the S&P 500 both fell 0.5 percent.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves amid a quiet day on the U.S. economic front. Uncertainty about the outcome of the second round of trade talks between the U.S. and China also kept some traders on the sidelines.
Earlier, President Donald Trump expressed some doubt about whether the high-level trade talks with China will be successful. Trump told reporters he doubts the talks will be successful in remarks during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Crude oil futures were flat Friday, clinging to gains amid speculation OPEC supplies are dwindling. WTI light sweet crude oil was at $71.28/bbl, down 21 cents or 0.3 percent. Still, oil posted a weekly gain of nearly 1 percent, touching a fresh four-year peak along the way.
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Market Analysis
December 19, 2025 15:10 ET U.S. inflation data and interest rate decisions by major central banks were the highlights of this busy week for economics news flow. Employment data and survey results on the housing markets also gained attention in the U.S. In Europe, the European Central Bank and Bank of England announced their policy decisions and macroeconomic projections.