Soft Start Seen For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, slumping more than 350 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 23,710-point plateau and it's expected to remain stuck in neutral on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, as investors wait to see if there's any slowdown in the Iran/Israel conflict. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Wednesday with damage across the board, especially among the properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index stumbled 269.61 points or 1.12 percent to finish at 23,710.69 after trading between 23,631.48 and 23,880.24.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group stumbled 2.26 percent, while Alibaba Health Info surrendered 3.18 percent, ANTA Sports slumped 1.16 percent, China Life Insurance contracted 1.83 percent, China Mengniu Dairy fell 0.71 percent, China Resources Land plummeted 3.55 percent, CITIC rose 0.18 percent, CNOOC sank 0.77 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical lost 0.73 percent, Galaxy Entertainment skidded 1.05 percent, Haier Smart Home slid 0.65 percent, Hang Lung Properties declined 1.59 percent, Henderson Land shed 0.75 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dropped 0.90 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China eased 0.33 percent, JD.com retreated 1.60 percent, Lenovo dipped 0.54 percent, Li Auto crashed 4.14 percent, Li Ning weakened 1.30 percent, Meituan plunged 3.48 percent, New World Development cratered 3.85 percent, Nongfu Spring and ENN Energy both slipped 0.38 percent, Techtronic Industries tumbled 2.14 percent, Xiaomi Corporation was down 0.37 percent, WuXi Biologics tanked 3.31 percent and Hengan International was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages spent most of Wednesday's trade in positive territory before turning lower and ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 44.14 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 42,171.66, while the NASDAQ rose 25.18 points or 0.13 percent to close at 19,546.27 and the S&P 500 eased 1.85 points or 0.03 percent to end at 5,980.87.

The lackluster day on Wall Street came after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged. Fed officials still seem to expect to two interest rate cuts this year, lowering the rate to a range of 4.0 percent to 3.75 percent by the end of 2025.

In economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits edged modestly lower last week. Also, the Commerce Department saw a steep drop by new residential construction in the U.S. in the month of May.

Crude oil price ticked higher on Wednesday as the Israel-Iran conflict, which began with Israeli airstrikes on June 12, entered the sixth straight day with casualties increasing on both sides. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery rose by $0.30 to settle at $75.15 per barrel.