Tech Shares May Weigh On Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Wednesday ended the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 740 points or 2.8 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 25,470-point plateau although it may hand those gains back on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on continuing concerns over the viability of the technology companies. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index rallied 233.37 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 25,468.78 after trading between 25,168.19 and 25,494.94.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group advanced 1.25 percent, while Alibaba Health Info soared 2.53 percent, ANTA Sports vaulted 1.65 percent, China Life Insurance skyrocketed 4.31 percent, China Mengniu Dairy expanded 1.61 percent, China Resources Land added 0.29 percent, CITIC increased 0.33 percent, CNOOC sank 0.20 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical spiked 2.17 percent, ENN Energy stumbled 2.37 percent, Galaxy Entertainment and Hang Lung Properties both rose 0.11 percent, Haier Smart Home jumped 1.68 percent, Henderson Land eased 0.14 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dropped 0.57 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.84 percent, JD.com climbed 1.26 percent, Lenovo slumped 0.83 percent, Li Auto fell 0.16 percent, Li Ning surged 4.26 percent, Meituan rallied 1.81 percent, New World Development gained 0.28 percent, Nongfu Spring accelerated 2.00 percent, Techtronic Industries tanked 2.02 percent, Xiaomi Corporation improved 0.78 percent and WuXi Biologics strengthened 1.50 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed but quickly headed south and spent the balance of the day under water.

The Dow dropped 228.29 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 47,885.97, while the NASDAQ plunged 418.14 points or 1.81 percent to close at 22,693.32 and the S&P 500 sank 78.83 points or 1.16 percent to end at 6,721.43.

The sharp pullback seen as the day progressed came amid renewed weakness among technology stocks, as reflected by the steep drop by the tech-heavy NASDAQ.

Semiconductor stocks turned in some of the market's worst performances on the day, resulting in a 3.8 percent plunge by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. Computer hardware stocks and networking stocks also slumped.

On the other hand, energy stocks turned in a strong performance as the price of crude oil rebounds from its lowest levels since early 2021.

The rebound by the price of crude oil comes after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers in Venezuela. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was up $0.70 or 1.3 percent to end at $55.97 per barrel.