Lower Open Predicted For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market headed south again on Tuesday, one session after halting the three-day losing streak in which it had slumped more than 100 points or 0.5 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 18,450-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild consolidation on growth concerns. The European and U.S markets were down and the Asian markets are predicted to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Tuesday with damage across the board, especially among the financials, properties and technology companies.

For the day, the index plummeted 387.25 points or 2.06 percent to finish at 18,456.91 after trading between 18,431.72 and 18,725.50.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group dipped 0.86 percent, Alibaba Health Info sank 1.67 percent, ANTA Sports eased 0.61 percent, China Life Insurance surrendered 3.27 percent, China Mengniu Dairy shed 1.66 percent, China Resources Land plunged 5.08 percent, CITIC tanked 3.84 percent, CNOOC slid 1.01 percent, Country Garden jumped 2.02 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical and Li Ning both stumbled 2.17 percent, Galaxy Entertainment dropped 1.84 percent, Hang Lung Properties dove1.31 percent, Henderson Land skidded 1.86 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas lost 1.54 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 1.34 percent, JD.com weakened 2.22 percent, Lenovo slumped 2.30 percent, Meituan tumbled 3.09 percent, New World Development retreated 2.64 percent, Techtronic Industries slipped 0.75 percent, Xiaomi Corporation plummeted 6.60 percent and WuXi Biologics declined 2.78 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and largely remained in the red throughout the session.

The Dow dropped 195.74 points or 0.56 percent to finish at 34,641.97, while the NASDAQ dipped 10.86 points or 0.08 percent to close at 14,020.95 and the S&P 500 fell 18.94 points or 0.42 percent to end at 4,496.83.

Concerns about the outlook for global economy following the release of disappointing Chinese and European data weighed on the market. A firm dollar and higher Treasury yields hurt as well.

In economic news, the Commerce Department reported a significant pullback in factory orders in July.

Oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday after Saudi Arabia and Russia announced they will extend their voluntary production cuts by three months. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $1.14 or about 1.3 percent at $86.69 a barrel.