Hong Kong Shares May Extend Tuesday's Losses

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Wednesday's holiday for the Qingming Festival, the Hong Kong stock market had snapped the five-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 840 points or 4.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 20,275-point plateau and it may take further damage on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower amid waning momentum and a lack of catalysts. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and the Asian bourses are expected to open to the downside.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the technology stocks and a mixed picture from the property sector.

For the day, the index sank 134.59 points or 0.66 percent to finish at 20,274.59 after trading between 20,126.90 and 20,364.36.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group tumbled 2.94 percent, while Alibaba Health Info surrendered 3.28 percent, ANTA Sports declined 2.23 percent, China Life Insurance perked 0.15 percent, China Mengniu Dairy and CLP Holdings both added 0.62 percent, China Resources Land weakened 1.23 percent, CITIC eased 0.11 percent, CNOOC surged 3.02 percent, Country Garden tanked 4.09 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical dropped 0.91 percent, Galaxy Entertainment jumped 1.26 percent, Henderson Land rose 0.18 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.97 percent, JD.com retreated 1.95 percent, Lenovo advanced 0.71 percent, Li Ning plummeted 4.37 percent, Meituan plunged 4.36 percent, Techtronic Industries skidded 0.98 percent, Xiaomi Corporation slumped 1.48 percent, WuXi Biologics stumbled 1.69 percent and Hang Lung Properties, New World Development and Hong Kong & China Gas were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be inconsistent as the NASDAQ and S&P opened under pressure on Wednesday and remained that way throughout, while the Dow stayed mostly positive.

The Dow gained 80.34 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 33,482.72, while the NASDAQ tumbled 129.47 points or 1,07 percent to end at 11,996.86 and the S&P 500 sank 10.22 points or 0.25 percent to close at 4,090.38.

The uptick by the Dow was partly due to a strong gain by shares of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), with the healthcare giant surging by 4.5 percent after the company announced it has agreed to pay $8.9 billion over 25 years to settle outstanding claims.

Meanwhile, concerns about the economic outlook weighed on the NASDAQ and the S&P following the release of disappointing data.

Payroll processor ADP said that private sector employment increased less than expected in March. And the Institute for Supply Management said growth in U.S. service sector activity slowed much more than expected last month.

Oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday as worries about economic slowdown outweighed data showing a drop in U.S. crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended lower by $0.10 at $80.61 a barrel.