Lower Open Expected For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, shedding almost 400 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 26,160-point plateau and it's tipped open under pressure again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky on rising ambiguity over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index slumped 185.02 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 26,159.12 after trading between 26,003.67 and 26,454.09.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group perked 0.13 percent, while Alibaba Health Info shed 0.91 percent, ANTA Sports sank 0.95 percent, China Life Insurance dipped 0.56 percent, China Mengniu Dairy stumbled 2.73 percent, China Resources Land was down 1.88 percent, CITIC jumped 1.50 percent, CNOOC lost 0.68 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical plummeted 4.73 percent, Galaxy Entertainment dropped 1.00 percent, Hang Lung Properties declined 1.60 percent, Henderson Land slumped 1.44 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas added 0.59 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China advanced 0.70 percent, JD.com plunged 4.40 percent, Lenovo tumbled 2.70 percent, Li Auto crashed 2.36 percent, Li Ning retreated 2.63 percent, Meituan surrendered 2.79 percent, New World Development tanked 3.71 percent, Nongfu Spring cratered 2.33 percent, Techtronic Industries fell 0.60 percent, Xiaomi Corporation skidded 1.16 percent, WuXi Biologics and Haier Smart Home both weakened 1.45 percent and CKI Holdings was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed but trended steadily lower as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow dropped 88.76 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 46,292.78, while the NASDAQ shed 215.50 points or 0.95 percent to end at 22,573.47 and the S&P 500 sank 36.83 points or 0.55 percent to close at 6,656.92.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street may partly have reflected concerns that stocks are overvalued following comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Speaking at an event Rhode Island, Powell described equity prices as "fairly highly valued" following the recent run to record highs.

Powell also addressed the outlook for monetary policy, noting that the Fed is facing a "challenging situation" as near-term risks to inflation are tilted to the upside and risks to employment to the downside.

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Tuesday as Iraq's earlier-announced plans to export oil to Turkey from Kurdistan stalled due to payment issues. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.26 or 2.02 percent at $63.54 per barrel.