Soft Start Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had spiked more than 1,220 points or 4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 26,425-point plateau although it figures to move lower again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on economic growth concerns, coronavirus woes and tumbling oil prices. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Wednesday as gains from the oil and technology stocks were capped by weakness from the casinos.

For the day, the index advanced 231.73 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 26,426.55 after trading between 26,009.83 and 26,650.82.

Among the actives, AAC Technologies surged 6.62 percent, while AIA Group slid 0.22 percent, Alibaba Group shed 0.62 percent, Alibaba Health Info soared 5.33 percent, ANTA Sports spiked 4.66 percent, China Life Insurance lost 0.46 percent, China Mengniu Dairy tumbled 1.66 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) gained 0.56 percent, China Resources Land dropped 0.74 percent, CITIC gathered 2.19 percent, CNOOC improved 0.13 percent, Country Garden Services sank 0.72 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical added 0.57 percent, Galaxy Entertainment plummeted 6.50 percent, Hang Lung Properties and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China both fell 0.23 percent, Henderson Land increased 0.14 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas perked 2.01 percent, Longfor skidded 1.49 percent, Meituan advanced 0.95 percent, New World Development rose 0.27 percent, Sands China plunged 2.70 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties was up 0.09 percent, Techtronic Industries jumped 4.00 percent, Xiaomi Corporation climbed 3.67 percent and WuXi Biologics accelerated 4.04 percent.

The lead from Wall Street remains inconsistent as the Dow and S&P opened firmly lower on Wednesday and stayed that way – but the NASDAQ hugged the unchanged line and finished slightly higher.

The Dow tumbled 323.73 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 34,792, while the NASDAQ rose 19.24 points or 0.13 percent to close at 14,780.53 and the S&P 500 sank 20.49 points or 0.46 percent to end at 4,402.66.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected renewed concerns about the pace of U.S. economic growth after payroll processor ADP said private sector employment increased less than expected in July.

On Friday, the Labor Department will release its more closely watched monthly jobs report, which includes both public and private sector jobs.

A steep drop by shares of General Motors (GM) also weighed on Wall Street, with the auto giant plunging by 8.9 percent to a five-month closing low after the company reported second quarter earnings that missed estimates.

Crude oil prices plummeted again on Wednesday, extending the sharp pullback seen over the two previous sessions following an unexpected increase in crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate crude sank $2.41 or 3.4 percent to $68.15 a barrel.