Hong Kong Shares Poised To End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in four straight trading days, stumbling almost 780 points or 3.4 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 23,600-point plateau although it's due for support on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on bargain hunting and an improved outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the former lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower again on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index sank 181.83 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 23,600.31 after trading between 23,363.98 and 23,962.03.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group advanced 0.90 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plunged 6.39 percent, ANTA Sports gained 0.36 percent, China Life Insurance slid 0.64 percent, China Mengniu Dairy eased 0.53 percent, China Resources Land slipped 0.58 percent, CITIC added 0.42 percent, CNOOC rose 0.34 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical lost 1.24 percent, ENN Energy surged 4.41 percent, Galaxy Entertainment declined 2.17 percent, Haier Smart Home stumbled 2.86 percent, Henderson Land sank 1.51 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas soared 2.07 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was down 0.54 percent, JD.com slumped 2.12 percent, Lenovo plummeted 7.03 percent, Li Auto dipped 0.62 percent, Li Ning tumbled 2.63 percent, Meituan dropped 1.92 percent, New World Development surrendered 3.36 percent, Nongfu Spring shed 1.44 percent, Techtronic Industries retreated 2.47 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tanked 3.43 percent, WuXi Biologics skidded 2.07 percent and Hang Lung Properties were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday before dipping and then rebounding to finally end mixed.

The Dow sank 82.55 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 41,350.93, while the NASDAQ rallied 212.35 points or 1.22 percent to close at 17,648.45 and the S&P 500 gained 27.23 points or 0.49 percent to end at 5,599.30.

The early strength on Wall Street followed the release of the closely watched Labor Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased slightly less than expected in February.

The tamer-than-expected inflation data led to some optimism about the Federal Reserve resuming interest rate cuts in the near future.

Buying interest was somewhat subdued, however, as concerns about the impact of new trade policies continue to weigh on the markets.

Oil prices moved higher on Wednesday after data showed a smaller than expected increase in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $1.43 or 2.16 percent at $67.68 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide Q4 figures for industrial production and producer prices later today; in the three months prior, industrial production was down 0.1 percent on year and producer prices were up an annual 3.2 percent.