Mild Consolidation Tipped For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 350 points or 1.8 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 19,250-point plateau although it's looking at another soft start again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky ahead of key inflation data from the United States. 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 modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index gained 61.86 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 19,246.03 after trading between 19,056.10 and 19,270.48.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group strengthened 1.13 percent, while Alibaba Health Info soared 1.64 percent, ANTA Sports gathered 0.23 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 0.76 percent, China Mengniu Dairy rallied 1.30 percent, China Resources Land advanced 1.03 percent, CITIC rose 0.24 percent, CNOOC climbed 1.11 percent, Country Garden tumbled 1.60 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical surged 1.91 percent, Galaxy Entertainment sank 0.64 percent, Hang Lung Properties perked 0.18 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas improved 0.79 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.56 percent, JD.com gained 0.47 percent, Lenovo dipped 0.12 percent, Li Ning spiked 1.53 percent, Meituan added 0.57 percent, New World Development jumped 1.26 percent, Techtronic Industries slid 0.21 percent, Xiaomi Corporation increased 0.66 percent, WuXi Biologics accelerated 1.39 percent and Henderson Land as unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened flat on Wednesday before heading south shortly thereafter; they made back some ground as the day progressed but still finished solidly in the red.

The Dow stumbled 191.13 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 35,123.36, while the NASDAQ dropped 162.31 points or 1.17 percent to close at 13.722.02 and the S&P 500 sank 31.67 points or 0.70 percent to end at 4,467.71.

The lower close on Wall Street came as traders remained cautious ahead of the release of a key report on consumer price inflation later today.

Traders will be looking for the report to reinforce expectations that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged next month; CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 86.5 percent chance the Fed will keep rates steady in September.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday, extending recent gains as output cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia continued to raise concerns about supply. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery jumped $1.48 pr 1.8 percent to $84.40 a barrel.