The performance of Hong Kong share prices next week will largely depend on the interest rate decisions in the United States and in China, dealers said.
They said the investors will also closely follow the key economic data coming out later Friday, including non-farm payrolls for November and consumer sentiment for December, to gauge the direction of trade next week.
"The market remains volatile and very dependent on overseas markets and any fresh leads," said Peter Lai, sales director at DBS Vickers Hong Kong.
Dealers said investors are concerned over a possible rate hike in China after Beijing announced its tightening stance and this helped to wipe out early Friday gains in Chinese stocks, which also affected sentiment in Hong Kong.
On Wednesday, Beijing said it would shift its monetary policy for 2008 to "tight" from "prudent" on worrying signs of overheating in the economy. China had been following the "prudent" monetary policy for a decade.
So far this year the central bank has raised interest rates five times and asked banks to increase the amount of deposits held as reserves eight times in an effort to cut lending and investment and curb growth. Dealers said losses could be limited by expectations that the US Federal Reserve will slash interest rates again when they meet for their monthly meeting next week. For the week to December 7, the index was up 198.86 points or 0.69 percent to 28,842.47.
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