Hong Kong Shares May Take Further Damage On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in five straight sessions, slumping almost 1,400 points or 5.9 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 24,560-point plateau and it's likely to see continued consolidation on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative as hostilities in the Middle East tick higher. The European and U.S. markets were mostly in the red and the Asin bourses are likely to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index sank 91.16 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 24,565.90 after trading between 24,486.39 and 24,740.65.

Among the actives, AIA tanked 2.27 percent, while Alibaba Group tumbled 1.43 percent, Baidu added 0.52 percent, Bank of China increased 0.56 percent, BOC Hong Kong collected 0.21 percent, China Construction Bank slumped 0.80 percent, China Life Insurance slid 0.36 percent, China Merchants Bank fell 0.42 percent, China Mobile eased 0.12 percent, China Petroleum & Chemical sank 0.73 percent, China Shenhua Energy dropped 0.77 percent, CITIC retreated 1.38 percent, CNOOC skidded 1.33 percent, Hong Kong Exchange shed 0.72 percent, HSBC dipped 0.14 percent, JD.com gained 0.44 percent, Lenovo Group soared 3.34 percent, Meituan climbed 1.25 percent, NetEase slipped 0.21 percent, Nongfu Spring rose 0.14 percent, PetroChina plummeted 4.58 percent, Ping An Insurance perked 0.09 percent, Semiconductor Manufacturing surged 3.38 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties declined 1.35 percent, Tencent Holdings jumped 1.52 percent, Xiaomi Corporation lost 0.55 percent, WuXi AppTec plunged 3.71 percent, Zijin Mining stumbled 1.55 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened higher but quickly tailed off into the red, although the Dow managed to creep back above water by the end of the day.

The Dow added 86.10 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 50,872.11, while the NASDAQ slumped 250.84 points or 0.97 percent to end at 25,678.82 and the S&P 500 slipped 19.08 points or 0.26 percent to end at 7,386.65.

The notable pullback by the NASDAQ came amid renewed weakness among tech stocks, which had regained some ground on Monday following last Friday's sell-off.

Semiconductor stocks helped lead the sector lower before rebounding, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index tumbling by 1.9 percent, while computer hardware, networking and software stocks also moved significantly lower.

In economic news, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing existing home sales in the U.S. spiked by much more than anticipated in the month of May.

Crude oil prices plunged on Tuesday after Israel and Iran halted their exchange of attacks. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was down $3.11 or 3.41 percent at $88.19 per barrel.

However, sentiment took a hit after the markets closed as the U.S. launched a fresh attack on Iran in response to the loss of a helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz.