Hong Kong Bourse May End Losing Streak On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 500 points or 2.5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng now rests just beneath the 19,270-point plateau although it's poised to halt its slide on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher, with upside limited by concern over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were slightly higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index plunged 234.51 points or 1.20 percent to finish at 19,268.74 after trading between 19,189.54 and 19,542.24.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group stumbled 2.43 percent, while Alibaba Health Info slumped 2.28 percent, ANTA Sports surged 3.97 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.54 percent, China Mengniu Dairy dipped 1.08 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rose 0.27 percent, China Resources Land shed 1.45 percent, CITIC weakened 2.08 percent, CNOOC jumped 1.57 percent, Country Garden plummeted 4.58 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical tanked 4.26 percent, ENN Energy spiked 2.52 percent, Galaxy Entertainment skidded 1.92 percent, Hang Lung Properties retreated 2.72 percent, Henderson Land plunged 4.40 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dropped 1.74 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slipped 1.00 percent, JD.com perked 0.18 percent, Lenovo tumbled 4.05 percent, Li Ning was down 0.57 percent, Longfor surrendered 2.96 percent, Meituan declined 2.73 percent, New World Development sank 1.73 percent, Techtronic Industries fell 1.30 percent, Xiaomi Corporation lost 1.43 percent and WuXi Biologics slid 1.13 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages shook off early weakness and moved quickly to the upside, although they finished well off of the day's highs.

The Dow added 59.64 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 32,969.23, while the NASDAQ gained 50.23 points or 0.41 percent to end at 12,431.53 and the S&P 500 rose 12.04 points or 0.29 percent to close at 4,140.77.

The early weakness followed comments from Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, who reiterated the U.S. central bank's commitment to bringing inflation under control through tighter monetary policy.

Investors also looked ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the central bank's annual Jackson Hole economic symposium later this week for clues about the bank's outlook for the economy and interest rates.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said that new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods were virtually unchanged in July. Also, the rate of decline for pending home sales slowed from the previous month.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday, supported by data showed a drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, as well as news that OPEC may cut production to support prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September climbed $1.15 or 1.2 percent at $94.89 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will release July figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In June, imports were up 0.5 percent on year and exports slipped an annual 6.4 percent for a trade deficit of HKD68.5 billion.