Soft Start Expected For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, tumbling more than 925 points or 5 percent along the way. Now at a fresh 11-year closing low, the Hang Seng Index sits just above the 17,850-point plateau and it's tipped to open lower again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets continues to be soft on concerns about interest rates and the global economy. The European and U.S. markets were down again and the Asian markets, despite being badly oversold at this point, are expected to at least open in the red.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Monday as losses from the oil companies and properties were mitigated by bargain hunting among the technology stocks.

For the day, the index dropped 78.13 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 17,855.14 after trading between 17,727.40 and 18,077.64.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group rose 0.38 percent, while Alibaba Health Info jumped 3.01 percent, ANTA Sports rallied 3.07 percent, China Life Insurance retreated 2.08 percent, China Mengniu Dairy shed 0.31 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) declined 3.11 percent, China Resources Land added 1.27 percent, CITIC plummeted 7.10 percent, CNOOC plunged 5.58 percent, Country Garden increased 1.62 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical advanced 2.00 percent, Galaxy Entertainment surged 7.18 percent, Hang Lung Properties slumped 1.51 percent, Henderson Land tumbled 3.54 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dropped 0.97 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China stumbled 1.31 percent, JD.com climbed 2.44 percent, Lenovo fell 0.17 percent, Li Ning gained 0.96 percent, Longfor improved 1.95 percent, Meituan soared 4.49 percent, New World Development tanked 5.20 percent, Techtronic Industries sank 0.23 percent, Xiaomi Corporation strengthened 2.22 percent and WuXi Biologics spiked 3.34 percent.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be negative as the major averages were unable to hold early support on Monday, accelerating to the downside as the day progressed.

The Dow tumbled 329.60 points or 1.11 percent to finish at 29.260.81, while the NASDAQ dropped 65.00 points or 0.60 percent to close at 10.802.92 and the S&P 500 fell 38.19 points or 1.03 percent to end at 3,655.04.

A continued surge in the value of the U.S. dollar contributed to the weakness on Wall Street, with the greenback hitting a record high versus the British pound.

Concerns about the outlook for the global economy also continued to weigh on the markets amid worries the increases in interest rates around the world will lead to a recession. The Fed and other central banks have indicated they plan to continue raising rates in an effort to combat stubbornly elevated inflation.

The extended weakness on Wall Street also came amid a spike in treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note soaring to a 12-year high.

Crude oil prices tumbled to near nine-month lows on Monday, extending losses from the previous session amid rising concerns about the outlook for fuel demand due to increasing possibility of a global recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $2.03 or 2.6 percent at $76.71 a barrel.