Losing Streak May Continue For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, sinking almost 200 points or 1 percent along the way. The Hang Seng now rests just above the 20,000-point plateau and it may take further damage on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growth concerns, with energy and technology stocks expected to weigh. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The Hang Seng finished slightly lower on Tuesday as losses from the technology stocks were offset by gains from the properties and oil companies.

For the day, the index slumped 42.36 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 20,003.44 after trading between 19,856.23 and 20,250.87.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group added 0.90 percent, while Alibaba Health Info tumbled 1.90 percent, ANTA Sports was up 0.18 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.35 percent, China Mengniu Dairy declined 1.70 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) jumped 1.10 percent, China Resources Land skidded 0.79 percent, CITIC was up 0.47 percent, CNOOC perked 0.31 percent, Country Garden surged 4.11 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical increased 0.71 percent, Galaxy Entertainment climbed 1.07 percent, Hang Lung Properties gathered 0.44 percent, Henderson Land improved 0.72 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas slumped 0.37 percent, JD.com plummeted 3.71 percent, Lenovo retreated 0.98 percent, Li Ning spiked 1.81 percent, Longfor advanced 1.01 percent, Meituan tanked 2.00 percent, New World Development soared 2.49 percent, Techtronic Industries plunged 3.13 percent, Xiaomi Corporation lost 0.17 percent, WuXi Biologics gained 0.74 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow shed 58.13 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 32,774.41, while the NASDAQ tumbled 150.53 points or 1.19 percent to end at 12,493.93 and the S&P 500 fell 17.59 points or 0.42 percent to close at 4,122.47.

Technology stocks helped to lead Wall Street lower, with semiconductor stocks turning in some of the worst performances after Micron Technology (MU) warned that it may miss its previous guidance.

The weakness also came as traders looked ahead to the release of a highly anticipated reading on U.S. consumer price inflation later today.

Crude oil futures settled modestly lower Tuesday on concerns about outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $0.26 or 0.3 percent at $90.50 a barrel.