Lower Open Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had tumbled more than 350 points or 1.8 percent. The Hang Seng now rests just above the 19,650-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets continues to be negative on concerns over the outlook for interest rates and recession fears. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Monday as losses from the technology stocks were mitigated by support from the oil companies and a mixed picture from the property sector.

For the day, the index sank 116.05 points or 0.59 percent to finish at 19,656.98 after trading between 19,564.19 and 19,825.93. Among the actives, Alibaba Group declined 1.12 percent, while Alibaba Health Info advanced 1.38 percent, ANTA Sports soared 3.51 percent, China Life Insurance stumbled 0.53 percent, China Mengniu Dairy rose 0.30 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) increased 0.55 percent, China Resources Land jumped 1.79 percent, CITIC slumped 0.71 percent, CNOOC rallied 1.55 percent, Country Garden surged 3.90 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical climbed 1.51 percent, ENN Energy plummeted 14.25 percent, Galaxy Entertainment retreated 0.76 percent, Hang Lung Properties strengthened 1.66 percent, Henderson Land surrendered 1.60 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dropped 0.37 percent. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China sank 0.25 percent, JD.com added 0.74 percent, Lenovo tumbled 2.50 percent, Li Ning spiked 2.39 percent, Longfor improved 1.00 percent, Meituan gained 0.71 percent, Techtronic Industries tanked 2.61 percent, Xiaomi Corporation plunged 3.26 percent, WuXi Biologics skidded 0.51 percent and New World Development was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened sharply lower and remained deep in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow plummeted 643.13 points or 1.91 percent to finish at 33,063.61, while the NASDAQ plunged 323.64 points or 2.55 percent to close at 12,381.57 and the S&P 500 sank 90.49 points or 2.14 percent to end at 4,137.99.

Concerns about the outlook for interest rates contributed to the weakness on Wall Street ahead of this week's economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming - where Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to sound a more hawkish tone in his comments.

Aggressive monetary tightening by central banks in Europe add to the nervous sentiment, as do concerns about a possible recession in major economies.

Crude oil prices moved lower on Monday on concerns about outlook for energy demand, while the dollar's strength also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $0.54 or 0.6 percent at $90.23 a barrel.