No Help Yet For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, tumbling almost 45 points or 3 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 15,860-point plateau and it's likely to give more ground again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative thanks to dwindling hopes for an interest rate cut in the near future. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Tuesday with damage across the board, especially among the properties and technology companies.

For the day, the index plummeted 350.41 points or 2.16 percent to finish at 15,865.92 after trading between 15,834.41 and 16,197.04.

Among the actives, China Resources Micx Lifestyle plummeted 5.62 percent, while Lenovo Group plunged 5.61 percent, Alibaba Health Info tanked 4.63 percent, Country Garden surrendered 4.47 percent, Hang Lung Properties tumbled 4.13 percent, Nongfu Spring retreated 3.97 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical declined 3.78 percent, ANTA Sports stumbled 3.44 percent, JD.com slumped 3.36 percent, CITIC weakened 3.20 percent, China Resources Land skidded 2.81 percent, New World Development dropped 2.74 percent, Xiaomi Corporation sank 2.68 percent, Li Ning shed 2.47 percent, China Mengniu Dairy lost 2.44 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas fell 2.36 percent, Meituan slid 2.31 percent, Alibaba Group dipped 2.29 percent, Henderson Land slipped 1.99 percent, China Life was down 1.87 percent, Techtronic Industries declined 1.85 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slumped 1.62 percent, Haier Smart Home dropped 1.36 percent, CNOOC lost 0.59 percent, Galaxy Entertainment fell 0.25 percent and WuXi Biologics eased 0.16 percent.

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

The Dow tumbled 231.86 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 37,361.12, while the NASDAQ shed 28.41 points or 0.19 percent to close at 14,944.35 and the S&P 500 sank 17.85 points or 0.37 percent to end at 4,765.98.

The weakness on Wall Street came was the result of higher Treasury yields and concerns that the Federal Reserve may not cut interest rates anytime soon.

In addition to digesting some hawkish comments from some central bank officials, investors also reacted to disappointing quarterly earnings updates from major companies such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

In economic news, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that the Empire State Manufacturing Index plunged to -43.7 in January, the lowest reading since May 2020.

Oil futures settled lower on Tuesday as a stronger dollar and forecasts that weather in the U.S. will be warmer than normal weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended down $0.28 at $72.40 a barrel.