Soft Start Expected For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, slumping more than 480 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 25,120-point plateau and it may continue to sputter on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, with oil and technology stocks likely to weigh on the markets. The European markets were up and the Asian bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the technology stocks and properties.

For the day, the index fell 53.95 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 25,122.90 after trading between 25,083.20 and 25,260.58.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group slipped 0.25 percent, while Alibaba Health Info stumbled 2.54 percent, ANTA Sports surged 4.61 percent, China Life Insurance plunged 3.19 percent, China Mengniu Dairy gained 0.43 percent, China Resources Land declined 1.68 percent, CITIC retreated 1.89 percent, CNOOC eased 0.16 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical surrendered 2.56 percent, Galaxy Entertainment spiked 1.87 percent, Haier Smart Home lost 0.55 percent, Hang Lung Properties dropped 0.88 percent, Henderson Land added 0.52 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas fell 0.28 percent, JD.com shed 0.56 percent, Lenovo slumped 1.52 percent, Li Auto tumbled 2.40 percent, Li Ning soared 2.55 percent, Meituan sank 0.58 percent, New World Development tanked 2.66 percent, Nongfu Spring jumped 1.51 percent, Techtronic Industries skidded 0.98 percent, Xiaomi Corporation weakened 1.23 percent, WuXi Biologics plummeted 3.94 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday and spent most of the day in the red, although the Dow peeked up above the line at the end.

The Dow rose 10.45 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 44,922.27, while the NASDAQ tumbled 314.82 points or 1.46 percent to end at 21,314.95 and the S&P 500 sank 37.78 points or 0.59 percent to close at 6,411.37.

The slump by the NASDAQ came amid weakness in the tech sector, with shares of Nvidia (NVDA) plunging by 3.5 percent following reports that the company is developing a new AI chip for China.

On the other hand, the Dow benefitted from a surge by shares of Home Depot (HD), as the home improvement retailer shot up 3.2 percent after the company maintained its full-year guidance despite missing on Q2 results.

Traders were also looking ahead to the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting later today and the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium that gets underway on Thursday. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak at the symposium on Friday, with remarks potentially impacting the outlook for interest rates.

Crude oil declined on Tuesday amid supply side concerns as OPEC continues to unwind 2.2 million barrels per day in voluntary cuts by its member nations. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $1.07 or 1.69 percent at $62.35 per barrel.