Hong Kong Bourse May Extend Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, stumbling more than 740 points or 5 percent in that span. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 14,690-point plateau and it's tipped to open under pressure again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets mixed to lower amid soft earnings news and ahead of the FOMC's policy announcement later this week. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the technology stocks, oil companies and properties.

For the day, the index slumped 176.04 points or 1.18 percent to finish at 14,687.02 after trading between 14,597.31 and 15,113.15.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group eased 0.49 percent, while Alibaba Health Info lost 2.06 percent, ANTA Sports and New World Development both dropped 3.83 percent, China Life Insurance shed 2.84 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) surrendered 6.06 percent, China Resources Land stumbled 4.28 percent, CITIC skidded 4.09 percent, CNOOC slumped 4.20 percent, Country Garden tanked 7.05 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical fell 1.71 percent, Galaxy Entertainment jumped 1.85 percent, Hang Lung Properties retreated 4.36 percent, Henderson Land declined 4.85 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas slid 1.62 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China tumbled 5.28 percent, JD.com dipped 1.02 percent, Lenovo surged 3.63 percent, Li Ning weakened 4.13 percent, Longfor crashed 23.78 percent, Meituan soared 2.46 percent, Techtronic Industries sank 3.82 percent, Xiaomi Corporation advanced 1.03 percent, WuXi Biologics plummeted 8.51 percent and China Mengniu Dairy was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened in the red on Monday and remained that way throughout the session.

The Dow slumped 128.85 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 32,732.95, while the NASDAQ sank 114.31 points or 1.03 percent to end at 10,988.15 and the S&P 500 dropped 29.08 points or 0.75 percent to close at 3,871.98.

The Dow posted a gain of almost 14 percent in October, the biggest monthly return since January 1976. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ added 0.8 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, last month.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to raise its benchmark interest rate by another 75 basis points - its fourth straight rate hike - to fight soaring inflation.

Also weighing were disappointing earnings results from the likes of Apple Inc. (AAPL), Amazon Inc (AMZN), Microsoft Corp (MSFT), Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.TO), Meta Platforms Inc (META) and Intel (INTC).

Crude oil prices fell Monday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand from China following a fresh surge in COVID-19 cases. A rise in oil output in the U.S., and a firm dollar also weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended down $1.37 or 1.6 percent at $86.53 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide September figures for retail sales later today; in August, sales were down 2.9 percent on year.