Soft Start Expected For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market turned lower again on Wednesday, one day after ending the two-day slide in which it had dropped more than 450 points or 2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 23,200-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative after U.S. President Donald Trump outlined his plan to impose sweeping tariffs on U.S. trade partners. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the former lead.

The Hang Seng finished barely lower on Wednesday following weakness from the technology stocks, support from the financials and a mixed picture from the property sector.

For the day, the index dipped 4.31 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 23,202.53 after trading between 22,980.96 and 23,393.03.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group rose 0.15 percent, while Alibaba Health Info spiked 1.48 percent, ANTA Sports dipped 0.12 percent, China Life Insurance soared 2.50 percent, China Mengniu Dairy jumped 0.82 percent, China Resources Land lost 0.19 percent, CITIC slumped 0.41 percent, CNOOC stumbled 0.95 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical rallied 0.91 percent, Galaxy Entertainment sank 0.33 percent, Haier Smart Home climbed 0.61 percent, Hang Lung Properties fell 0.15 percent, Henderson Land gained 0.22 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas shed 0.29 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.36 percent, JD.com advanced 0.43 percent, Lenovo added 0.38 percent, Li Auto accelerated 1.21 percent, Li Ning tanked 1.01 percent, Meituan eased 0.06 percent, New World Development declined 0.60 percent, Nongfu Spring surged 3.61 percent, Techtronic Industries retreated 0.79 percent, Xiaomi Corporation plummeted 4.19 percent and WuXi Biologics plunged 2.05 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages shook off a soft open on Wednesday and tracked generally higher throughout the session.

The Dow jumped 235.36 points or 0.56 percent to finish at 42,225.32, while the NASDAQ advanced 151.16 points or 0.87 percent to close at 17,601.05 and the S&P 500 improved 37.90 points or 0.67 percent to end at 5,670.97.

The early weakness on Wall Street came amid concerns about the impact of Trump's reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trade partners.

However, traders then saw the early slump as an opportunity to pick up stocks at reduced levels, leading to the subsequent rebound.

In U.S. economic news, payroll processor ADP said private sector employment in the U.S. increased more than expected in March. Also, the Commerce Department said factory orders increased more than anticipated in February.

Crude oil prices ticked higher again on Wednesday, despite data showing an unexpected increase by U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery rose $0.51 or 0.7 percent to $71.71 a barrel.