Hong Kong Bourse May Take Further Damage On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, tumbling almost 400 points or 2.3 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 18,450-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on growth and inflation concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished barely lower on Wednesday as losses from the technology stocks were mitigated by support from the financials and properties.

For the day, the index dipped 6.93 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 18,449.98 after trading between 18,256.10 and 18,492.59.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group eased 0.11 percent, while Alibaba Health Info tumbled 1.28 percent, ANTA Sports skidded 0.50 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.32 percent, China Mengniu Dairy lost 0.19 percent, China Resources Land slumped 0.58 percent, CITIC retreated 0.64 percent, CNOOC soared 2.19 percent, Country Garden surged 5.85 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical sank 0.34 percent, Galaxy Entertainment dropped 0.49 percent, Hang Lung Properties climbed 0.95 percent, Henderson Land spiked 1.66 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas fell 0.17 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China jumped 1.63 percent, JD.com added 0.30 percent, Lenovo plummeted 3.36 percent, Li Ning declined 1.04 percent, Meituan shed 0.23 percent, New World Development advanced 0.83 percent, Techtronic Industries plunged 2.72 percent, Xiaomi Corporation rallied 1.38 percent, WuXi Biologics tanked 2.06 percent and Haier Smart Home was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower and remained under water throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 198.78 points or 0.57 percent to finish at 34,443.19, while the NASDAQ sank 148.48 points or 1.06 percent to end at 13,872.47 and the S&P 500 lost 31.35 points or 0.70 percent to close at 4,465.48.

The continued weakness on Wall Street reflected ongoing concerns about the outlook for the global economy and inflation concerns.

Stocks saw further downside following a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing an unexpected acceleration in the pace of U.S. service sector growth in August - sending treasury yields higher.

In other U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing the U.S. trade deficit widened in the month of July.

Crude oil prices extended recent gains and moved higher on Wednesday, lifting the futures contract to a fresh nine-month closing high - fueled by the decision by Russia and Saudi Arabia to extend production cuts. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for October ended higher by $0.85 or 1 percent at $87.54 a barrel.