Lower Open Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in consecutive trading days, collecting almost 210 points or 1.1 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 19,675-point plateau although it's likely to see renewed selling pressure on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index added 77.25 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 19,673.45 after trading between 19,528.71 and 19,859.75.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group improved 1.30 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plummeted 7.09 points, ANTA Sports strengthened 1.46 percent, China Life Insurance lost 0.66 percent, China Mengniu Dairy climbed 1.44 percent, China Resources Land dipped 0.15 percent, CITIC advanced 1.02 percent, CNOOC added 0.60 percent, Country Garden plunged 6.14 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical skyrocketed 6.46 percent, Galaxy Entertainment fell 0.19 percent, Hang Lung Properties sank 0.80 percent, Henderson Land tanked 3.31 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas spiked 2.75 percent, Lenovo rallied 2.25 percent, Li Ning soared 4.04 percent, Longfor slumped 0.97 percent, Meituan jumped 2.12 percent, New World Development dropped 0.89 percent, Techtronic Industries surged 4.56 percent, Xiaomi Corporation gained 0.36 percent, WuXi Biologics retreated 1.07 percent and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and JD.com were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and stayed that way before tumbling after the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement.

The Dow dropped 142.29 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 33,966.35, while the NASDAQ sank 85.93 points or 0.76 percent to close at 11,170.89 and the S&P 500 lost 24.33 points or 0.61 percent to end at 3,995.32.

The lower close on Wall Street came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to slow the pace of interest rate increases but still signaled further rate hikes ahead.

After raising interest rates by 75 basis points at four consecutive meetings, the Fed announced its decision to raise interest rates by 50 basis points to a target range of 4.25 to 4.50 percent.

But the central bank reiterated that it anticipates ongoing increases in rates will be appropriate. The economic projections provided along with the announcement now suggest the Fed expects rates to be raised higher than forecast in September.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday, lifted by an upward revision in demand forecast by the International Energy Agency due to the shutdown of the Keystone pipeline following a massive leak. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $1.89 or 2.5 percent at $77.28 a barrel.

Closer to home, The Hong Kong Monetary Authority will wrap up its monetary policy meeting later today and then announce its decision on interest rates. The current benchmark lending rate is 4.25 percent.