Lower Open Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market turned emphatically lower again on Tuesday, one session after ending the three-day slide in which it had slumped more than 750 points or 3.8 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 19,690-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on rising geopolitical tensions between the United States and China, and concerns that the economy is slowing. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Hand Seng finished sharply lower on Tuesday following damage across the board - especially among the financials, properties, technology stocks and oil companies.

For the day, the index plummeted 476.63 points or 2.36 percent to finish at 19,689.21 after trading between 19,515.54 and 19,943.16.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group retreated 2.85 percent, while Alibaba Health Info tumbled 3.63 percent, ANTA Sports dropped 2.07 percent, China Life Insurance weakened 2.58 percent, China Mengniu Dairy surrendered 3.61 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) slumped 2.70 percent, China Resources Land skidded 2.32 percent, CITIC shed 1.78 percent, CNOOC and JD.com both declined 2.89 percent, Country Garden plummeted 7.50 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical cratered 4.05 percent, Galaxy Entertainment eased 0.76 percent, Hang Lung Properties was down 0.89 percent, Henderson Land fell 1.65 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dipped 1.22 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China sank 1.93 percent, Lenovo lost 1.68 percent, Li Ning slid 1.61 percent, Longfor plunged 4.69 percent, Meituan stumbled 2.11 percent, New World Development slipped 1.15 percent, Techtronic Industries added 0.52 percent, Xiaomi Corporation crashed 4.28 percent and WuXi Biologics tanked 3.66 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened deep in the red on Tuesday, pared some of the losses but still closed well in negative territory.

The Dow plummeted 402.23 points or 1.23 percent to finish at 32,396.17, while the NASDAQ dipped 20.22 points or 0.16 percent to close at 12,348.76 and the S&P 500 sank 27.44 points or 0.67 percent to end at 4,091.19.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came as tensions climbed the U.S. and China due to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.

In economic news, the Labor Department said the number of job openings in the United States fell by 605,000 from a month earlier to 10.7 million in June, the lowest in nine months and below market expectations of 11 million.

Crude oil futures settled higher Tuesday, with traders weighing demand and supply prospects and looking ahead to this week's OPEC+ meeting. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $0.53 or 0.6 percent at $94.42 a barrel.