The Hong Kong stock market on Thursday finally wrote a finish to the brutal four-day losing streak in which it had plummeted more than 2,700 points or 11 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just below the 24,400-point plateau, and the market is looking at additional support on Friday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive thanks to a recovery among the Chinese markets, as well as optimism that an accord may be reached in the Greek debt situation. The European and U.S. markets finished higher, and the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.
The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Thursday after opening firmly under water - riding support from the financials, properties, industrials and utilities.
For the day, the index spiked 876.23 points or 3.73 percent to finish at 24,392.79 after trading between 23,332.90 and 24,695.75 on turnover of 212.07 billion Hong Kong dollars.
Among the actives, Hong Kong Exchange surged 14.84 percent, while HSBC collected 3.04 percent, Bank of East Asia added 2.26 percent, China Mobile climbed 1.82 percent, China Unicom soared 8 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties advanced 3.99 percent, Henderson Land jumped 3.46 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) gathered 0.48 percent and CNOOC soared 3.32 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as stocks opened sharply higher and then remained in the green on Thursday, recovering from the sell-off in the previous sessions. The Dow crept up 33.20 points or 0.2 percent to 17,548.62, while the NASDAQ rose 12.64 points or 0.3 percent to 4,922.40 and the S&P 500 edged up 4.63 points or 0.2 percent to 2,051.31. The initial strength followed a substantial rebound by Chinese stocks with the Shanghai Composite Index surging 5.8 percent as authorities unveiled fresh support measures. Early buying interest was also generated by optimism about a deal between Greece and its creditors after the debt-laden nation promised to implement pension and tax reforms to win fresh aid. However, the positive sentiment was tempered by news that the International Monetary Fund lowered its forecast for global economic growth in 2015.
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Market Analysis
May 22, 2026 14:46 ET Minutes of the latest Fed policy session was the highlight of the week along with survey data on the U.S. housing market. In Europe, survey data signaled the trends in the euro area private sector. Further, consumer price inflation data from the U.K. was in focus. In Asia, various economic indicators from China drew attention to the health of the economy.