Losing Streak May Continue For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, tumbling more than 320 points or 1.9 percent in that span. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 17,310-point plateau and it's likely to open in the red again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on disappointing earnings news and soft data. The European and U.S. markets finished sharply lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Wednesday as losses from the property and technology stocks were mitigated by support from the financial sector.

For the day, the index stumbled 158.31 points or 0.91 percent to finish at 17,311.05 after trading between 17,251.26 and 17,516.95. Among the actives, Alibaba Group rose 0.13 percent, while Alibaba Health Info skidded 1.54 percent, ANTA Sports slid 0.78 percent, China Life Insurance sank 1.29 percent, China Mengniu Dairy plunged 3.48 percent, China Resources Land tanked 2.77 percent, CITIC dipped 0.41 percent, CNOOC jumped 1.23 percent, Country Garden shed 1.26 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical dropped 1.51 percent, Galaxy Entertainment advanced 0.73 percent, Hang Lung Properties retreated 2.30 percent, Henderson Land eased 0.22 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas added 0.48 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rallied 1.15 percent, JD.com stumbled 1.95 percent, Lenovo declined 2.10 percent, Li Ning lost 1.09 percent, Meituan plummeted 4.06 percent, New World Development slumped 1.75 percent, Techtronic Industries fell 0.89 percent, Xiaomi Corporation surrendered 2.48 percent and WuXi Biologics tumbled 2.35 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened deep in the red on Wednesday and only moved lower as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow plummeted 504.22 points or 1.25 percent to finish at 39,853.87, while the NASDAQ plunged 654.94 points or 3.64 percent to close at 17,342.41 and the S&P 500 tumbled 128.61 points or 2.31 percent to end at 5,427.13.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid a negative reaction to disappointing corporate earnings news from companies like Tesla (TSLA) and Alphabet (GOOGL).

In economic news, the Commerce Department unexpectedly reported a continued decrease in new home sales in the U.S. in June.

Oil prices moved higher on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected drop in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up $0.63 or 0.81 percent at $77.59 a barrel, snapping a three-day losing streak.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide June numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later today; in May, imports were up 9.6 percent and exports rose 14.8 percent for a trade deficit of HKD12.1 billion.