Hong Kong Shares May Inch Higher On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Wednesday snapped the four-day losing streak in which it had plummeted almost 900 points or 5.5 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 16,250-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for thew Asian markets is mixed to lower, with oil and technology stocks likely to weigh. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished barely higher on Wednesday following gains from the financials, weakness from the casinos and mixed performances from the technology and property stocks.

For the day, the index perked 2.87 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 16,251.84 after trading between 16,155.83 and 16,316.69.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group shed 0.66 percent, while Alibaba Health Info jumped 0.76 percent, ANTA Sports gained 0.55 percent, China Life Insurance added 0.68 percent, China Mengniu Dairy dropped 0.78 percent, China Resources Land perked 0.22 percent, CITIC rallied 0.73 percent, CNOOC slumped 0.95 percent, Country Garden retreated 1.14 percent, Galaxy Entertainment plummeted 7.07 percent, Henderson Land tanked 3.66 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.50 percent, JD.com eased 0.10 percent, Lenovo rose 0.36 percent, Li Ning tumbled 1.26 percent, Meituan declined 1.17 percent, New World Development plunged 6.79 percent, Techtronic Industries sank 0.77 percent, Xiaomi Corporation surged 2.26 percent, WuXi Biologics soared 2.15 percent and CSPC Pharmaceutical, Hang Lung Properties and Hong Kong & China Gas were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but quickly turned lower, spending most of the rest of the day in the red.

The Dow shed 45.66 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 37,753.31, while the NASDAQ tumbled 181.88 points or 1.15 percent to end at 15,683.37 and the S&P 500 sank 29.20 points or 0.58 percent to close at 5,022.21.

The lower close on Wall Street came on concerns about the outlook for interest rates following remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who suggested rates are likely to remain higher for longer amid a "lack of progress" toward reaching the central bank's inflation goal.

Weakness among technology stocks weighed on the tech-heavy NASDAQ as shares of Nvidia (NVDA) came under pressure, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index also slumped.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Wednesday, adding to modest losses in the two previous sessions after data showed a surge in U.S. crude oil inventories. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery plunged $2.67 or 3.1 percent to $82.69 a barrel.