The Hong Kong stock market on Wednesday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 350 points or 1.3 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just shy of the 29.300-point plateau although it’s likely to recover for Thursday’s trade.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside, supported by crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were slightly higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Wednesday as losses from the financials, casinos and technology stocks were mitigated by support from the oil companies.
For the day, the index sank 170.38 points or 0.58 percent to finish at 29,297.62 after trading between 29,208.73 and 29,490.61.
Among the actives, AAC Technologies surged 3.28 percent, while AIA Group declined 1.25 percent, Alibaba Group tumbled 1.74 percent, Alibaba Health Info skidded 1.62 percent, ANTA Sports tanked 2.53 percent, China Life Insurance fell 0.49 percent, China Mengniu Dairy and Techtronic Industries both plunged 3.03 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) advanced 0.95 percent, China Resources Land lost 0.54 percent, CITIC slipped 0.34 percent, CNOOC gained 0.80 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical added 0.49 percent, Galaxy Entertainment retreated 1.38 percent, Hang Lung Properties soared 1.32 percent, Henderson Land dropped 0.67 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas eased 0.15 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.59 percent, Longfor surrendered 0.88 percent, Meituan slid 0.38 percent, New World Development dipped 0.36 percent, Sands China sank 0.85 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties was up 0.17 percent, Xiaomi Corporation rose 0.34 percent and WuXi Biologics plummeted 3.05 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as stocks spent much of Wednesday’s session bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finally ending slightly higher.
The Dow added 25.07 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 34,600.38, while the NASDAQ rose 19.85 points or 0.14 percent to end at 13,756.33 and the S&P 500 was up 6.08 points or 0.14 percent to close at 4,208.12.
The early strength on Wall Street partly reflected continued optimism about the outlook for the global economy following Tuesday’s upbeat manufacturing data although trading activity remained light amid lingering inflation concerns.
The Labor Department’s looming monthly jobs report also kept some traders on the sidelines ahead of the release of the closely watched data on Friday.
Traders largely shrugged off the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, which said the U.S. economy increased at a somewhat faster rate from early April to late May due in part to the positive effects of increased Covid-19 vaccination rates and relaxed social distancing measures.
Crude oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session, amid rising hopes about a pickup in energy demand and on the decision by OPEC to gradually increase crude production. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended up $1.11 or 1.6 percent at $68.83 a barrel, the highest since October 2018.
Market Analysis
Hong Kong Bourse May Reverse Wednesday’s Losses
2021-06-03 01:15:13
