Hong Kong Shares Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Wednesday halted the five-day losing streak in which it had given up more than 1,500 points or more than 6 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 23.400-point plateau although it may turn lower again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly soft, with selling pressure among the technology stocks likely to tip the markets into the red. The European and U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Wednesday as gains from the technology and property stocks were capped by weakness from the financial sector.

For the day, the index improved 75.90 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 23,412.18 after trading between 23,248.87 and 23,565.65.

Among the actives, AIA improved 0.96 percent, while Alibaba Group added 0.45 percent, Baidu rallied 2.29 percent, Bank of China retreated 1.31 percent, BOC Hong Kong declined 1.02 percent, China Construction Bank tumbled 1.62 percent, China Life Insurance plummeted 3.34 percent, China Merchants Bank crashed 2.06 percent, China Mobile lost 0.32 percent, China Petroleum & Chemical advanced 0.97 percent, China Shenhua Energy dropped 0.38 percent, CITIC slumped 0.90 percent, CNOOC sank 0.37 percent, Hong Kong Exchange perked 0.05 percent, HSBC shed 0.34 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China plunged 2.73 percent, JD.com tanked 1.65 percent, Lenovo Group spiked 2.87 percent, Meituan cratered 2.66 percent, NetEase eased 0.16 percent, Nongfu Spring gained 0.43 percent, PetroChina rose 0.11 percent, Ping An Insurance stumbled 1.40 percent, Semiconductor Manufacturing skyrocketed 8.93 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties jumped 1.79 percent, Tencent Holdings soared 3.38 percent, Xiaomi Corporation vaulted 1.50 percent, WuXi AppTec surged 8.33 percent and Zijin Mining skidded 0.41 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but couldn't hold the gains, finally finishing mixed.

The Dow climbed 182.06 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 51,848.90, while the NASDAQ slumped 110.40 points or 0.43 percent to close at 25,476.63 and the S&P 500 slipped 7.24 points or 0.10 percent to end at 7,358.22.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street, and especially the tech-heavy NASDAQ, was the result of renewed selling among semiconductor stocks over artificial intelligence infrastructure concerns.

The early strength came despite some uncertainty surrounding the US-Iran peace deal amid disagreements between the two nations over a few key terms of the pact.

A slide in crude oil prices also spurred the markets higher as West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery tumbled $2.87 or 3.92 percent to $70.34 per barrel as shipping traffic picks up across the Strait of Hormuz.

In economic news, data from the Commerce Department showed sales of new single-family homes in the US tumbled 7.3 percent month-over-month in May to the lowest annualized rate of 580,000, following an upwardly revised 626,000 in April.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide May numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In April, imports were up 44.4 percent on month and exports jumped 42.9 percent for a trade deficit of HKD29.5 billion.