Hong Kong Shares May Take Further Damage On Monday

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Friday's holiday for Tomb Sweeping Day, the Hong Kong stock market had moved lower in back-to-back sessions, dropping almost 360 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 22,850-point plateau and it's expected to open under water again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on trade war concerns after China announced retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods in reaction to President Donald Trump's new levies. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are also expected to open under pressure.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and properties. For the day, the index stumbled 352.72 points or 1.52 percent to finish at 22,849.81 after trading between 22,638.21 and 22,998.30. Among the actives, Alibaba Group tumbled 5.00 percent, while Alibaba Health Info slid 0.83 percent, ANTA Sports lost 1.04 percent, China Life Insurance declined 2.44 percent, China Mengniu Dairy dipped 0.61 percent, China Resources Land soared 1.74 percent, CITIC slumped 2.38 percent, CNOOC skidded 2.12 percent, Galaxy Entertainment shed 1.15 percent, Haier Smart Home plunged 8.03 percent, Hang Lung Properties dropped 1.32 percent, Henderson Land fell 0.88 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas spiked 1.47 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China sank 1.27 percent, JD.com stumbled 5.19 percent, Lenovo tanked 7.79 percent, Li Auto retreated 2.69 percent, Li Ning was down 0.51 percent, Meituan perked 0.06 percent, New World Development slipped 0.60 percent, Techtronic Industries plummeted 12.37 percent, Xiaomi Corporation surged 3.03 percent, WuXi Biologics surrendered 5.33 percent and CSPC Pharmaceutical and Nongfu Spring were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains brutal as the major averages opened with heavy losses and remained deep in the red throughout the session.

The Dow plummeted 2,231.07 points or 5.50 percent to finish at 38,314.86, while the NASDAQ tumbled 962.82 points or 5.82 percent to close at 15,587.79 and the S&P 500 plunged 322.44 points or 5.97 percent to end at 5,074.08.

The extended nosedive on Wall Street came amid ongoing concerns about a global trade war, triggered by the tariff polices Trump announced last week.

China announced a 34 percent tariff will be imposed on all imported goods from the U.S. as of April 10, while Canada and the European Union are also preparing countermeasures.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in remarks that the tariff increases will be significantly larger than expected and the same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth.

Crude oil prices showed another substantial move to the downside on Friday on continuing concerns about the impact a global trade war will have on fuel demand. West Texas Intermediate for May delivery plunged $4.95 or 7.4 percent to $62 a barrel, a three-year low.