Steady Start Anticipated For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Wednesday halted the five-day winning streak in which it had rallied more than 420 points or 2.3 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 19,400-point plateau although it may regain its footing on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged but said more rate hikes were likely before the end of the year. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financials, properties, oil companies and technology stocks.

For the day, the index lost 113.00 points or 0.58 percent to finish at 19,408.42 after trading between 19,352.34 and 19,641.16.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group lost 0.64 percent, while Alibaba Health Info fell 0.61 percent, ANTA Sports sank 0.71 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.75 percent, China Mengniu Dairy eased 0.33 percent, China Resources Land added 0.61 percent, CITIC tanked 2.13 percent, CNOOC was down 0.35 percent, Country Garden plunged 2.34 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical declined 1.49 percent, Galaxy Entertainment shed 0.68 percent, Hang Lung Properties slumped 1.36 percent, Henderson Land tumbled 1.88 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas slid 0.58 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China plummeted 2.35 percent, JD.com rose 0.07 percent, Lenovo skidded 0.86 percent, Li Ning stumbled 1.08 percent, Meituan dipped 0.55 percent, New World Development surrendered 1.67 percent, Techtronic Industries surged 4.02 percent, Xiaomi Corporation dropped 0.73 percent and WuXi Biologics retreated 1.45 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed, tumbled after the Fed's policy statement but then rebounded to finish on opposite sides of the line.

The Dow slumped 232.79 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 33,979.33, while the NASDAQ added 53.16 points or 0.39 percent to close at 13,626.48 and the S&P 500 rose 3.58 points or 0.08 percent to end at 4,372.59.

The late-day volatility came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to pause its interest rate increases following 10 consecutive rate hikes but also forecast additional increases later this year.

However, the central bank's latest projections suggest the Fed plans to resume raising rates later this year, forecasting a rate of 5.6 percent by the end of 2023.

The forecast for additional rate hikes this year comes as the Fed raised its forecast for annual core consumer price growth to 3.9 percent from 3.6 percent.

Crude oil prices pared early gains and drifted lower Wednesday after data showed a notable increase in U.S. crude inventories last week, while a stronger greenback also weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July sank $1.15 or 1.7 percent at $68.27 a barrel.

Closer to home, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority will conclude its monetary policy meeting today and announce its decision on interest rates; it's expected to leave its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 5.50 percent. Hong Kong also will see Q1 data for industrial production and producer prices; in the previous three months, they were down 0.1 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.