Lower Open Called For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Thursday halted the two-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 240 points or 1.1 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 20,850-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests further consolidation on worldwide recession fears. The European and U.S. markets finished with deep losses and the Asian bourse are also tipped to open in the red.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Thursday with damage across the board, especially among the technology, oil and property sectors.

For the day, the index plummeted 462.78 points or 2.17 percent to finish at 20,845.53 after trading between 20,697.41 and 21,545.84.

Among the actives, AAC Technologies dipped 1.85 percent, while Alibaba Group cratered 3.03 percent, Alibaba Health Info tanked 5.08 percent, ANTA Sports declined 3.95 percent, China Life Insurance dipped 1.90 percent, China Mengniu Dairy stumbled 3.33 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) slid 1.96 percent, China Resources Land sank 2.54 percent, CITIC plunged 5.82 percent, CNOOC retreated 3.81 percent, Country Garden plummeted 5.86 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical lost 2.22 percent, Galaxy Entertainment fell 0.36 percent, Henderson Land dropped 2.73 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas eased 1.66 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China gave away 1.11 percent, JD.com was down 1.68 percent, Lenovo rose 2.19 percent, Li Ning skidded 2.78 percent, Meituan surrendered 3.96 percent, New World Development shed 2.26 percent, Techtronic Industries slumped 3.76 percent, Xiaomi Corporation weakened 3.54 percent, WuXi Biologics tumbled 4.19 percent and Hang Lung Properties was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Thursday and remained deep in the red throughout the day, finishing near session lows.

The Dow plummeted 741.46 points or 2.42 percent to finish at 29,927.07, while the NASDAQ plunged 453.06 points or 4.08 percent to close at 10,646.10 and the S&P 500 dropped 123.22 points or 3.25 percent to end at 3,666.77.

The sell-off on Wall Street reflected concerns aggressive monetary policy action by central banks around the world may trigger a global recession.

Following the Federal Reserve's widely expected 75 basis point interest rate hike on Wednesday, central banks in Switzerland, England and Taiwan, among others, also decided to hike rates.

In economic news, the Labor Department noted a modest decrease in first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits last week. Also, the Commerce Department said new residential construction in the U.S. plunged more than expected May.

Oil futures settled higher on Thursday after prices rebounded as tight supply levels outweighed concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $2.27 or 2 percent at $117.58 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will release May unemployment data later today; in April, the jobless rate was 5.4 percent.