Lower Open Predicted For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market headed south again on Wednesday, one day after ending the four-day losing streak in which it had slumped almost 1,230 points or 6 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 18,230-point plateau and it's expected to open in the red again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautious as the debt ceiling situation looks to enter the home stretch. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index plunged 361.51 points or 1.94 percent to finish at 18,234.27 after trading between 18,044.86 and 18,415.00.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group slid 1.14 percent, while Alibaba Health Info skidded 2.11 percent, ANTA Sports lost 1.66 percent, China Life Insurance shed 1.93 percent, China Mengniu Dairy eased 0.33 percent, China Resources Land slumped 2.66 percent, CITIC stumbled 3.00 percent, CNOOC plunged 4.23 percent, Country Garden weakened 2.57 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical was down 0.44 percent, Galaxy Entertainment surrendered 3.29 percent, Hang Lung Properties slipped 1.12 percent, Henderson Land tanked 4.05 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas sank 2.08 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 0.95 percent, JD.com declined 3.15 percent, Lenovo dove 0.67 percent, Li Ning retreated 3.11 percent, Meituan plummeted 5.33 percent, New World Development dropped 2.09 percent, Techtronic Industries rose 0.07 percent, Xiaomi Corporation fell 1.52 percent and WuXi Biologics tumbled 3.96 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened solidly lower on Wednesday, making back some of the ground as the day progressed but still ending firmly in the red.

The Dow dropped 134.51 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 32,908.27, while the NASDAQ shed 82.14 points or 0.63 percent to close at 12,935.29 and the S&P 500 slumped 25.69 points or 0.61 percent to end at 4,179.83.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders kept a close eye on developments regarding the bill to raise the U.S. debt ceiling and avoid potentially disastrous default. The debt bill, which advanced out of the House Rules Committee on Tuesday, is set to be voted on in the House any time now.

In economic news, the Labor Department said that job openings rose to 10.1 million in April from a revised 9.7 million in March. Economists had expected job openings to fall to 9.4 million.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday as worries about fuel demand resurfaced, while a stronger dollar also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July slumped $1.37 or 2 percent at $68.09 a barrel.