Hong Kong Stock Market May Extend Friday's Losses

(RTTNews) - Ahead of the long Christmas holiday weekend, the Hong Kong stock market had ended the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up more than 480 points or 2.5 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 19,600-point plateau and it may take further damage on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index slipped 86.14 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 19,593.06 after trading between 19,380.47 and 19,686.77.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group retreated 1.59 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plummeted 4.96 percent, ANTA Sports rose 0.39 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.64 percent, China Mengniu Dairy dipped 0.14 percent, China Resources Land soared 2.32 percent, CITIC tumbled 1.99 percent, Country Garden gained 0.52 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical rallied 0.72 percent, Galaxy Entertainment weakened 1.06 percent, Hang Lung Properties added 0.54 percent, Henderson Land fell 0.19 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas shed 0.54 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China sank 0.77 percent, JD.com plunged 2.06 percent, Lenovo slumped 1.55 percent, Li Ning perked 0.07 percent, Meituan declined 1.61 percent, New World Development lost 0.23 percent, Techtronic Industries skidded 0.95 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tanked 2.00 percent, WuXi Biologics surged 3.25 percent and CNOOC was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday, with only the Dow managing to break barely into positive territory.

The Dow rose 37.63 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 33,241.56, while the NASDAQ tumbled 144.64 points or 1.38 percent to end at 10,353.23 and the S&P 500 sank 15.57 points or 0.40 percent to close at 3,829.25.

The weakness on Wall Street partly reflected lingering concerns about the economic outlook following recent indications the Federal Reserve plans to continuing raising interest rates.

The markets got a lift when treasuries moved sharply lower, extending the downward trend seen over the past several sessions.

Bond prices came under pressure in early trading and saw further downside as the day progressed. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, jumped 10.9 basis points to 3.860 percent.

Crude oil prices pared gains and settled roughly flat on Tuesday after refineries in the Gulf Coast restarted after a temporary closure. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled flat at $79.53 a barrel.