Lower Open Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, sinking almost 950 points or 4.3 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 21,065-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on fears of an economic slowdown and concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Monday with damage across the board, especially among the technology stocks, properties and oil companies.

For the day, the index plummeted 738.60 points or 3.39 percent to finish at 21,067.58 after trading between 20,993.76 and 21,320.15.

Among the actives, AAC Technologies dropped 3.04 percent, while Alibaba Group plummeted 7.98 percent, Alibaba Health Info tanked 7.69 percent, ANTA Sports retreated 4.15 percent, China Life Insurance fell 2.45 percent, China Mengniu Dairy slipped 1.87 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) and CITIC both dipped 1.62 percent, China Resources Land sank 2.84 percent, CNOOC and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China both gave away 0.88 percent, Country Garden plunged 7.95 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical shed 2.83 percent, Galaxy Entertainment surrendered 4.82 percent, Hang Lung Properties lost 2.68 percent, Henderson Land slid 1.99 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas eased 0.47 percent, JD.com declined 4.63 percent, Lenovo slumped 3.23 percent, Li Ning stumbled 3.06 percent, Meituan tumbled 6.46 percent, New World Development was down 1.34 percent, Techtronic Industries surrendered 6.33 percent, Xiaomi Corporation weakened 3.78 percent and WuXi Biologics tumbled 5.80 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened sharply lower on Monday and only got worse as the day progressed, ending deep in the red.

The Dow plummeted 876.05 points or 2.79 percent to finish at 30,516 billion baht, while the NASDAQ plunged 530.80 points or 4.68 percent to close at 10,809.23 and the S&P 500 dropped 151.23 points or 3.88 percent to close at 3,749.63.

The extended sell-off on Wall Street reflected lingering concerns about inflation and the outlook for interest rates after last Friday's report showing a jump in consumer prices.

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to announce its latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday, with the central bank expected to continuing raising interest rates in an effort to combat inflation.

While the Fed's rate hikes have been widely anticipated for months, traders seem increasingly concerned tighter monetary policy could trigger a period of stagflation or an outright recession.

Crude oil futures rebounded from early losses and settled modestly higher on Monday as concerns about global supplies outweighed demand worries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $0.26 or 0.2 percent at $120.93 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide Q1 figures for industrial production later today; in the previous three months, output was up 5.8 percent on year.