Renewed Selling Pressure Likely For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - Ahead of the Christmas break, the Hong Kong stock market bounced higher again on Wednesday - one day after snapping the four-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 600 points or 2.2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 25,820-point plateau although it's likely to head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets calls for little movement with perhaps a touch of weakness in thin trade between the Christmas and New Year's holidays. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished slightly higher on Wednesday following gains from the utilities and insurance companies, while the properties were soft and the technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index rose 44.79 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 25,818.93 after trading between 25,772.87 and 25,890.87.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group dropped 0.82 percent, while Alibaba Health Info tumbled 1.53 percent, ANTA Sports and WuXi Biologics both sank 0.67 percent, China Life Insurance rose 0.14 percent, China Mengniu Dairy retreated 1.30 percent, China Resources Land fell 0.36 percent, CITIC climbed 0.59 percent, CNOOC added 0.19 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical contracted 1.24 percent, Galaxy Entertainment shed 0.51 percent, Haier Smart Home stumbled 2.32 percent, Hang Lung Properties skidded 0.91 percent, Henderson Land and Hengan International both slid 0.28 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas expanded 0.56 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 0.49 percent, Lenovo slipped 0.32 percent, Li Auto eased 0.15 percent, Li Ning declined 1.25 percent, New World Development slumped 0.95 percent, Nongfu Spring jumped 1.17 percent, Techtronic Industries gained 0.16 percent, Xiaomi Corporation perked 0.05 percent and JD.com and Meituan were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests slight consolidation as the major averages hugged the line on Friday and finished very slightly under water.

The Dow shed 29,19 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 48,710.97, while the NASDAQ slipped 20.21 points or 0.09 percent to close at 23,593.10 and the S&P 500 eased 2.11 points or 0.03 percent to end at 6,929.94.

For the week, the S&P 500 shot up 1.4 percent, while the Dow and the NASDAQ both jumped 1.2 percent.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as many traders remained away from their desks following the Christmas Day holiday on Thursday, leading to below average trading activity.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves following the recent upward trend, which lifted the Dow and S&P 500 to new record closing highs.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Friday on supply concerns due to the intensifying conflict between the United States and Venezuela. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was down $1.41 or 2.42 percent at $56.94 per barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will release November numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In October, imports were up 18.3 percent on month and exports rose 17.5 percent for a trade deficit of HKD39.9 billion.