More Pain Predicted For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, plummeting more than 400 points or 2.5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just shy of the 16,650-point plateau and it may extend its losing streak on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on concerns that the outlook for interest rates may have been too optimistic. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index dropped 142.14 points or 0.85 percent to finish at 16,646.41 after trading between 16,564.80 and 16,657.51.

Among the actives, Lenovo Group plummeted 4.53 percent, while Techtronic Industries plunged 4.10 percent, Alibaba Health Information tanked 4.08 percent, Henderson Land surrendered 4.03 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tumbled 3.23 percent, JD.com declined 3.19 percent, Li Ning retreated 3.15 percent, Hang Lung Properties slumped 2.95 percent, New World Development stumbled 2.56 percent, China Resources Land weakened 2.08 percent, Alibaba Group skidded 1.87 percent, Meituan dropped 1.76 percent, ANTA Sports sank 1.63 percent, Nongfu shed 1.58 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas and CNOOC both lost 1.52 percent, Hengan International rallied 1.23 percent, Haier Smart Home fell 1.15 percent, Country Garden slid 1.07 percent, CITIC slipped 0.91 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical dipped 0.70 percent, Galaxy Entertainment gave up 0.56 percent, WuXi was down 0.52 percent, China Mengniu Dairy eased 0.20 percent and Industrial and Commercial bank of China, CK Infrastructure and China Life were unchanged.

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

The Dow tumbled 284.85 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 37,430.19, while the NASDAQ dropped 173.73 points or 1.18 percent to close at 14,592.21 and the S&P 500 sank 38.02 points or 0.80 percent to end at 4,704.81.

The continued weakness on Wall Street partly reflected concerns investors have become too optimistic about the likelihood of near-term interest rate cuts.

Stocks saw some further downside as the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting reiterated officials widely expect to begin lowering rates in 2024, but they also highlighted an "unusually elevated degree of uncertainty" about the outlook.

In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said U.S. manufacturing activity contracted at a slightly slower rate in December. Also, the Labor Department said job openings in the U.S. edged down from an upwardly revised level in November.

The price of crude oil moved rebounded on Wednesday, regaining ground on concerns about further attacks by Houthi militants against ships in the Red Sea. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery surged $2.32 or 3.3 percent to $72.70 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will release November numbers for retail sales later today, in October, sales were up 5.6 percent on year.