The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five sessions, since the end of the six-day winning streak in which it had surged nearly 2,600 points or 13.5 percent. The Hang Seng Index finished just above the 17,980-point plateau, although now traders are looking for renewed support at the opening of trade on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed with a touch of downside ahead of a key European summit meeting on Sunday. Technology stocks are expected to fall, while financials and oil companies may provide support. The European markets finished sharply lower on Thursday and the U.S. bourses were mixed but little changed - and the Asian markets are expected to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Thursday following heavy losses among the property, finance, commerce and industrial stocks.

For the day, the index retreated 326.12 points or 1.78 percent to finish at 17,983.10, after trading between 18,198.12 and 17,782.00 on turnover of 52.8 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Among the decliners, Cheung Kong Holding shed 1.99 percent, while Sun Hung Kai Property lost 2.12 percent, Henderson Land fell 2.56 percent, Hang Lung Properties dropped 1 percent, China Resources Land plunged 6.7 percent, China Overseas Land retreated 3.24 percent, HSBC shed 1.49 percent, Hang Seng Bank lost 1.88 percent, Bank of East Asia dropped 2.14 percent, PetroChina fell 2.58 percent, Sinopec gave away 1.38 percent and CNOOC lost 3 percent.Wall Street offers little guidance as stocks showed a lack of direction on Thursday, with traders reacting to just about every headline out of Europe. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually ending the session mixed.

With reports suggesting that Germany and France are struggling to reach an agreement regarding the enhanced powers of the region's bailout fund ahead of a high-profile summit on Sunday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy revealed that European leaders will hold a second summit next Wednesday.

As a result of the focus on Europe, traders shrugged off some relatively upbeat U.S. economic data, including a report from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve showing an unexpected expansion in regional manufacturing activity. The Philly Fed said its diffusion index of current activity jumped to a positive 8.7 in October from a negative 17.5 in September, versus forecasts for a negative 9.8.

The Labor Department also reported a modest drop in initial jobless claims in the week ended October 15, although claims remained above the key 400,000 level. Initial jobless claims edged down to 403,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 409,000. Economists had expected claims to drop to 400,000 from the 404,000 originally reported for the previous week. Read More