The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting more than 330 points or 1.6 percent in the process. The Hang Seng Index finished just below the 20,870-point plateau, but now analysts are expecting to see the market extend its gains when it opens for business on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, although the upside is likely limited by caution ahead of U.S. employment data later in the day. Technology and housing stocks are expected to provide support. The European markets were mixed but little changed and the U.S. bourses were firmly higher - and the Asian markets are also expected to track higher.
The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Thursday, thanks to large gains from the financial shares and the airline stocks.
For the day, the index surged 245.09 points or 1.19 percent to finish at 20,868.92 after trading between 20,819.61 and 20,938.29 on turnover of 66.13 billion Hong Kong dollars.
Among the gainers, Air China added 4.33 percent, while Cathay Pacific gained 2.92 percent, China Eastern jumped 5.53 percent, China CITIC Bank collected 3.35 percent, Bank of China Hong Kong climbed 2.13 percent and Bank of Communications was up 2.36 percent.
Wall Street offers a positive lead as stocks ended notably higher on Thursday ahead of the landmark jobs report following the release of upbeat data on pending home sales and weekly jobless claims.
Boosting sentiment was data from the National Association of Realtors showing a 5.2 percent increase in its pending home sales index in July. Economists had been expecting the index to come in unchanged.
The mood on Wall Street was also helped by a report from the Labor Department showing that initial jobless claims edged down to 472,000 in the week ended August 28, below the 475,000 estimated by economists.
Continued growth in August retail sales also helped to elevate risk appetite, with Target (TGT) reporting a 1.8 percent increase same-store sales, Saks' (SKS) sales rising by 1 percent, Kohl's (KSS) seeing 4.5 percent growth and sales by wholesaler Costco (COST) jumping by 7 percent.
In other corporate news, Hewlett Packard (HPQ) beat out rival Dell Inc. (DELL) in a bidding war for electronic storage firm 3Par (PAR), offering a winning bid of $33 per share, or a total of approximately $2 billion.
Additionally, fast food giant Burger King (BKC) closed markedly higher after the firm entered an agreement to be purchased by private capital firm 3G for $24 per share or nearly $4 billion, including debt.
The major averages all saw steady upside in the second half of the day, eventually ending near their best levels of the session. The Dow gained 50.63 points or 0.5 percent to end at 10,320.10, the NASDAQ advanced by 23.17 points or 1.1 percent to 2,200.01 and the S&P 500 rose by 9.81 points or 0.9 percent to 1,090.10.
In corporate news, China Natural Gas has completed construction of a liquefied natural gas fueling station in Shaanxi Province, the company said on Thursday. The station will officially begin operations on September 9 and marks the company's first development of an LNG fueling station in China. The new station, located in Hongqing District, Xi'an, is the first LNG fueling station in Shaanxi Province. The LNG fueling station has a designed fueling capacity of approximately 50,000 cubic meters per day.
The company said that energy research and consulting group Wood Mackenzie forecasts that LNG consumption in China could reach as much as 46 million metric tons per year by 2020.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.