Losses May Accelerate For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Tuesday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 360 points or 1.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 26,440-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of the FOMC's rate decision later today. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished barely lower on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index dipped 8.05 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 26,438.51 after trading between 26,332.21 and 26,601.59.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group dropped 0.71 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plummeted 3.89 percent, ANTA Sports spiked 2.56 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 2.44 percent, China Mengniu Dairy shed 0.59 percent, China Resources Land lost 0.43 percent, CITIC declined 1.06 percent, CNOOC skidded 0.87 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical plunged 2.47 percent, Galaxy Entertainment stumbled 1.40 percent, Haier Smart Home increased 0.63 percent, Hang Lung Properties jumped 1.13 percent, Henderson Land added 0.50 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas sank 0.70 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 0.34 percent, JD.com retreated 1.29 percent, Lenovo climbed 1.12 percent, Li Auto soared 2.61 percent, Li Ning advanced 0.77 percent, Meituan surged 3.03 percent, New World Development slipped 0.24 percent, Nongfu Spring slumped 0.92 percent, Techtronic Industries improved 0.72 percent, Xiaomi Corporation gained 0.44 percent, WuXi Biologics eased 0.21 percent and Hengan International was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday but quickly turned lower and all ended under water.

The Dow slumped 125.55 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 45,757.90, while the NASDAQ fell 14.79 points or 0.07 percent to close at 22,333.75 and the S&P lost 8.52 points or 0.13 percent to end at 6,606.76.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as the Federal Reserve began its two-day monetary policy meeting.

While the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by 25 basis points, traders will look to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest economic projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

The Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another 25 basis points at both its October and December meetings, although Fed Chair Jerome Powell is likely to say future rate cuts will depend on incoming economic data.

Crude oil moved sharply higher on Tuesday amid the intensifying Russia-Ukraine war and ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later today. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.22 or 1.93 percent at $64.52 per barrel.