Hong Kong Shares Expected To Halt Slide On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, slumping almost 540 points or 2.7 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 19,760-point plateau although it's poised to open higher on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian market figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index dropped 105.38 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 19,762.20 after trading between 19,696.59 and 19,880.03.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group advanced 0.94 percent, while Alibaba Health Info dropped 0.97 percent, ANTA Sports tumbled 2.12 percent, China Life Insurance surrendered 2.71 percent, China Mengniu Dairy weakened 1.07 percent, China Resources Land plummeted 3.22 percent, CITIC and Lenovo both slumped 1.15 percent, CNOOC rose 0.15 percent, Country Garden lost 0.68 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical climbed 1.03 percent, Galaxy Entertainment jumped 1.46 percent, Hang Lung Properties sank 0.74 percent, Henderson Land shed 0.71 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas stumbled 1.31 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China tanked 3.04 percent, JD.com fell 0.66 percent, Li Ning plunged 3.13 percent, Meituan skidded 1.00 percent, New World Development retreated 1.43 percent, Techtronic Industries declined 1.56 percent, Xiaomi Corporation eased 0.18 percent and WuXi Biologics added 0.44 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly upbeat as the major averages opened higher and the NASDAQ and S&P 500 finished firmly in positive territory, while the Dow ended just below the unchanged line.

The Dow dipped 30.48 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 33,531.33, while the NASDAQ jumped 126.89 points or 1.04 percent to end at 12,306.44 and the S&P 500 added 18.47 points or 0.45 percent to close at 4,137.64.

The initial strength on Wall Street reflected a positive reaction to the Labor Department's highly anticipated report on consumer prices, which said inflation matched estimates and rose in April.

The report also said the annual rate of consumer price growth eased to 4.9 percent in April from 5.0 percent in March. That marked the smallest 12-month increase since April 2021 and added to optimism about the Federal Reserve pausing its interest rate hikes.

Crude oil prices showed a notable move to the downside on Wednesday, giving back ground after closing high for three straight sessions. West Texas Intermediate for June delivery slumped $1.15 or 1.6 percent to $72.56 a barrel after peaking at $73.71 in the previous session.