[ET Net News Agency, 28 October 2024] The market is paying attention to this week's
major U.S. data, including third-quarter GDP growth, October employment data, as well as
inflation, housing prices and retail sales. These data will directly affect the Federal
Reserve's interest rate decision on 7 November. Last week, the three major U.S. stock
indexes developed individually. Investors wait and see, the Hang Seng Index has been on
the soft side repeatedly, closing at 20,546 for half a day, down 43 points or 0.2%. The
main board turnover was nearly HKD 76.9 billion. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index was
at 7,372, down 13 points or 0.2%. The Hang Seng Tech Index reported at 4,566, up 28 points
or 0.6%.

"Nip Chun Pong: The world tends to wait and see before the US election, and the range of
20,500 will maintain during the week"

Hong Kong stocks continued the narrow range trend last week, hovering around 20,500 this
morning. Nip Chun Pong, the Chief Strategist at Blackwell Global Securities, told ET Net
News Agency that the market is waiting to see the Mainland China economic data, and the
external side is also waiting to see the results of the US election. Both inside and
outside are on wait-and-see. It is expected that Hong Kong stocks will maintain the narrow
range of last week this week. As for whether this week's performance announcement will
bring any ripples to the Hong Kong stock market, he believes that the more important
performance this week is HSBC (00005), which will be announced tomorrow. It is expected
that the fluctuation will not be too big. The rest of technology stocks which will affect
the market more will not be announced this week, so there will not have a significant
impact on the market performance.
Oil prices fell sharply this morning. Reports indicated that Israel's new offensive
against Iran was generally not too violent and that it was avoiding Tehran's important
crude oil facilities. The market's concerns about energy supply interruptions plummeted.
Oil prices fell immediately at the beginning of the Asian session of the oil market this
morning. New York oil futures plunged more than 5%, crossing the USD 70 mark, and once
fell below USD 68. The current price is hovering around USD 68.55. Three barrels of oil in
Hong Kong stocks came under pressure this morning, with PetroChina (00857) leading the
decline by more than 2%. Nip Chun Pong pointed out that Israel's recent attacks on Iran
have been relatively stable, and Iran's counterattack has not been too big. It is expected
that the impact of geopolitical factors will be slightly reduced in the short term.

"The economic outlook for China and the United States remains weak, which will be
detrimental to oil prices, but oil stocks are expected to fall another 5% before getting
support"

Nip Chun Pong pointed out that the market will then turn its focus back to the economic
prospects of China and the United States. The current economic prospects of China and the
United States are not bright. Even after the U.S. election, the United States will not
immediately reverse its current weak economic prospects. Industrial profits of the
Mainland China fell 27.1% year-on-year in September, nearly 10 percentage points higher
than in August. Oil prices will continue to face greater downward pressure in the
mid-line. He expects that there is still room for oil prices to fall. Brent oil may fall
back to USD65 to 66, while New York oil may fall to around USD 60 before finding support,
but it is expected that there will be little pressure to fall below it.
As for the trend of three barrels of oil, Nip Chun Pong believes that oil stocks have
already adjusted a lot. However, due to the downward pressure on oil prices, the current
price of oil stocks may have room for a correction of about 5%. It is expected that there
will be support if it falls back to mid-September levels. For example, PetroChina is
expected to have support at about HKD 5.5. If the stock price starts to go sideways, it
proves that there is an inflow of funds to catch the bottom, and the dividend rate is also
expected to further rise to about 9%. Investors may wish to make investments.