Renewed Selling Pressure Likely For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Wednesday ended the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 220 points or 1.1 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 19,950-point plateau although it's expected to head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on inflation and interest rate concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down on Wednesday and now the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished barely higher on Wednesday following mixed performances from the financials, properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index rose 5.36 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 19,954.39 after trading between 19,564.84 and 20,173.02.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group dropped 0.95 percent, while Alibaba Health Info soared 3.17 percent, ANTA Sports strengthened 1.50 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.71 percent, China Mengniu Dairy gained 0.56 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) skidded 1.07 percent, China Resources Land added 0.62 percent, CITIC sank 0.86 percent, CNOOC tumbled 2.21 percent, Country Garden rallied 2.37 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical spiked 2.96 percent, Galaxy Entertainment advanced 0.80 percent, Hang Lung Properties lost 0.30 percent, Henderson Land slumped 1.13 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas shed 0.51 percent, JD.com dipped 0.08 percent, Lenovo rose 0.46 percent, Li Ning surged 3.90 percent, Longfor climbed 0.99 percent, Meituan accelerated 2.59 percent, New World Development retreated 1.35 percent, Techtronic Industries declined 1.95 percent, Xiaomi Corporation jumped 1.94 percent, WuXi Biologics fell 0.29 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and CK Infrastructure were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages shook off a positive open on Wednesday, hugging the line for much of the day before a late slide pushed them firmly into the red for the fourth straight session.

The Dow tumbled 280.44 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 31,510.43, while the NASDAQ slumped 66.93 points or 0.56 percent to close at 11,816.20 and the S&P 500 sank 31.16 points or 0.78 percent to end at 3,955.00.

The continued weakness on Wall Street reflected lingering concerns about higher interest rates following some hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials.

Exacerbating those concerns, Eurozone inflation hit a new record in August and added further pressure on the European Central Bank to tighten policy more aggressively as soon as next week.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP said that private sector employment in the U.S. increased by much less than expected in August.

Crude oil prices saw further downside on Wednesday, extending recent losses on concerns about the outlook for the global economy after the Eurozone's record high inflation report. West Texas Intermediate for October delivery tumbled $2.09 or 2.3 percent to $89.55 a barrel.