No Help Yet For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in five straight trading days, stumbling almost 920 points or 4 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 23,460-point plateau and it's got another weak lead for Friday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to ongoing tariff concerns and their effect on the world economy. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower again on Thursday following losses from the property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index dropped 137.66 points or 0.58 percent to finish at 23,462.65 after trading between 23,198.73 and 23,712.61.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group stumbled 2.45 percent, while Alibaba Health Info surrendered 2.77 percent, ANTA Sports plunged 3.36 percent, China Life Insurance slid 0.26 percent, China Mengniu Dairy plummeted 3.81 percent, China Resources Land sank 0.97 percent, CITIC shed 0.73 percent, CNOOC jumped 1.69 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical fell 0.63 percent, Galaxy Entertainment and WuXi Biologics both skidded 1.27 percent, Haier Smart Home retreated 1.96 percent, Hang Lung Properties dropped 1.04 percent, Henderson Land lost 0.66 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.36 percent, JD.com added 0.32 percent, Lenovo and Nongfu Spring both declined 1.72 percent, Li Auto slumped 1.51 percent, Li Ning tanked 2.82 percent, Meituan tumbled 2.26 percent, New World Development climbed 1.16 percent, Techtronic Industries eased 0.05 percent, Xiaomi Corporation rallied 1.54 percent and Hong Kong & China Gas were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened in the red and continued to track lower throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 537.36 points or 1.30 percent to finish at 40,813.57, while the NASDAQ dropped 345.44 points or 1.96 percent to close at 17.303.01 and the S&P 500 sank 77.78 points or 1.39 percent to end at 5,521.52.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid ongoing concerns about President Donald Trump's trade policies after he suggested the U.S. would respond to the European Union's countermeasures with even more tariffs.

In economic news, the Labor Department said producer prices in the U.S. were unexpectedly flat in February. Also, the Labor Department unexpectedly saw a modest decrease by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Oil prices fell on Thursday amid prospects of excess supply in the market, and on concerns about the outlook for demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $1.13 or 1.7 percent at $66.55 a barrel.