Hong Kong Shares Tipped To Open Under Pressure

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Tuesday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 700 points or 3.8 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just shy of the 16,790-point plateau and it's expected to extend its losses on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with technology and oil stocks likely to lead the way lower. The European and U.S. markets were mostly in the red and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index stumbled 258.84 points or 1.52 percent to finish at 16,788.55 after trading between 16,725.28 and 17,135.12.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group slid 1.19 percent, while Alibaba Health Info lost 1.65 percent, ANTA Sports declined 3.10 percent, China Life Insurance stumbled 2.27 percent, China Mengniu Dairy plunged 5.43 percent, China Resources Land tanked 5.36 percent, CITIC shed 1.79 percent, CNOOC rallied 1.54 percent, Country Garden surrendered 3.41 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical fell 1.38 percent, Galaxy Entertainment jumped 1.60 percent, Hang Lung Properties was down 0.37 percent, Henderson Land sank 2.08 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dipped 0.84 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dropped 2.09 percent, JD.com skidded 2.40 percent, Lenovo climbed 1.10 percent, Li Ning plummeted 5.84 percent, Meituan retreated 3.05 percent, New World Development tumbled 3.30 percent, Techtronic Industries slipped 0.38 percent, Xiaomi Corporation weakened 0.77 percent and WuXi Biologics slumped 3.04 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averaged opened lower on Tuesday and only the Dow was able to peek barely into positive territory by the session's end.

The Dow rose 25.50 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 37,715.04, while the NASDAQ tumbled 245.41 points or 1.63 percent to end at 14,765.94 and the S&P 500 sank 27.00 points or 0.57 percent to close at 4,742.83.

The weakness in the broader markets came as traders continued to cash in on recent strength, particularly among technology stocks.

A steep drop by shares of Apple (AAPL) weighed on the tech sector, with the iPhone maker tumbling by 3.6 percent to its lowest closing level in well over a month after Barclays downgraded its rating on the company's stock to Underweight from Equal Weight.

The price of crude oil couldn't hold early gains and showed a substantial downturn on Tuesday over escalating Middle East tensions. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery surged nearly $2 to a high of $73.64 a barrel early in the session but pulled back sharply to close down $1.27 or 1.8 percent at $70.38 a barrel.