Lower Open Predicted For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Wednesday snapped the three-day losing streak in which it had plunged almost 720 points or 4.5 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 16,460-point plateau although it may hand back those gains on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower ahead of key U.S. employment data later this week, while slumping oil prices also may weigh. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the property stocks and financials, while the technology shares were also mostly higher.

For the day, the index jumped 135.36 points or 0.83 percent to finish at 16,463.26 after trading between 16,234.84 and 16,600.36.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group sank 0.50 percent, while Alibaba Health Info slumped 1.15 percent, ANTA Sports and Hong Kong & China Gas both climbed 1.33 percent, China Life Insurance and ENN Energy both added 0.79 percent, China Mengniu Dairy tumbled 2.49 percent, China Resources Land rose 0.56 percent, CITIC strengthened 1.53 percent, CNOOC fell 0.31 percent, Country Garden gathered 0.45 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical improved 1.18 percent, Galaxy Entertainment dropped 0.73 percent, Hang Lung Properties accelerated 2.90 percent, Henderson Land spiked 3.10 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.28 percent, JD.com advanced 1.27 percent, Lenovo skyrocketed 10.03 percent, Li Ning soared 3.76 percent, Meituan jumped 2.07 percent, New World Development surged 4.15 percent, Techtronic Industries rallied 2.65 percent, Xiaomi Corporation gained 0.68 percent, WuXi Biologics increased 1.15 percent and Haier Smart Home was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major average opened higher on Wednesday but couldn't hold the gains and eventually finished under water.

The Dow dropped 70.13 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 36,054.43, while the NASDAQ sank 83.20 points or 0.58 percent to end at 14,146.71 and the S&P 500 lost 17.84 points or 0.39 percent to close at 4,549.34.

The early strength on Wall Street followed the release of a report from payroll processor ADP showing private sector employment in the U.S. increased by less than expected in November.

The weaker than expected private sector job growth added to recent optimism the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates.

However, stocks retreated as traders chose to lighten commitments due to concerns about possible overbought conditions in the market ahead of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday, extending losses to a fifth straight day after data showed a large increase in gasoline inventories in the U.S. last week, raising concerns about the outlook for fuel demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January sank $2.94 or 4.1 percent at $69.38 a barrel.