Higher Open Predicted For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, sinking more than 910 points or 5.3 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 17,000-point plateau although it's due for support on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of key U.S. inflation data later today. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets expect to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Wednesday with damage across the board, especially among the technology and property stocks.

For the day, the index plunged 360.70 points or 2.08 percent to finish at 16,993.44 after trading between 16,881.98 and 17,359.08.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group skidded 2.22 percent, while Alibaba Health Info was down 0.86 percent, ANTA Sports rose 0.06 percent, China Life Insurance slumped 2.94 percent, China Mengniu Dairy weakened 2.61 percent, China Resources Land surrendered 4.56 percent, CITIC slid 1.36 percent, CNOOC added 0.16 percent, Country Garden plunged 6.23 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical shed 1.55 percent, Galaxy Entertainment tanked 4.85 percent, Hang Lung Properties tumbled 4.16 percent, Henderson Land retreated 3.19 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas fell 1.49 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 1.06 percent, JD.com sank 1.57 percent, Lenovo lost 1.54 percent, Li Ning stumbled 3.39 percent, Meituan plummeted 12.18 percent, New World Development declined 4.09 percent, Techtronic Industries slipped 1.05 percent, Xiaomi Corporation eased 0.26 percent and WuXi Biologics dropped 1.87 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but faded as the day progressed, ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 13.44 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 35,430.42, while the NASDAQ slid 23.27 points or 0.16 percent to close at 14,258.49 and the S&P 500 dipped 4.31 points or 0.09 percent to end at 4,550.58.

Stocks saw early strength amid ongoing optimism about the outlook for interest rates, also riding a surge by shares of General Motors (GM) after the auto giant announced a $10 billion stock buyback and increased dividend.

Buying interest waned as the day has progress, however, with traders looking ahead to the release of key inflation readings later today.

Crude oil showed another strong move to the upside on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session ahead of a key OPEC meeting later today. West Texas Intermediate for January delivery jumped $1.45 or 1.9 percent to $77.86 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide October figures for retail sales later today; in September, sales were 13 13.0 percent on year.