Hong Kong Shares May Head South Again On Thursday

The Hong Kong stock market on Wednesday halted the three-day losing streak in which it had tumbled more than 770 points or 3.8 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 19,760-point plateau although it may face renewed selling pressure on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on renewed concerns over the health of the financial sectors, although support from technology stocks should limit the downside. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index advanced 139.37 points or 0.71 percent to finish at 19,757.27 after trading between 19,520.97 and 19,903.73.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group dropped 0.95 percent, while Alibaba Health Info advanced 1.26 percent, ANTA Sports rose 0.21 percent, China Life Insurance tumbled 1.82 percent, China Mengniu Dairy eased 0.16 percent, China Resources Land soared 2.24 percent, CITIC lost 0.32 percent, CNOOC collected 0.64 percent, Country Garden accelerated 2.07 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical spiked 2.20 percent, Galaxy Entertainment skidded 1.09 percent, Hang Lung Properties added 0.99 percent, Henderson Land strengthened 1.50 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas gathered 0.73 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 0.24 percent, JD.com and ENN Energy both surged 2.56 percent, Lenovo sank 0.87 percent, Li Ning jumped 1.62 percent, Meituan improved 1.14 percent, New World Development rallied 1.66 percent, Techtronic Industries climbed 1.38 percent, Xiaomi Corporation gained 0.91 percent and WuXi Biologics increased 1.08 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday, but the Dow and S&P 500 quickly fell into the red while the NASDAQ stayed positive throughout the day.

The Dow stumbled 228.96 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 33,301.87, while the NASDAQ gained 55.19 points or 0.47 percent to close at 11,854.35 and the S&P 500 fell 15.64 points or 0.38 percent to end at 4,055.99.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders weighed upbeat tech earnings against renewed concerns about turmoil in the banking sector.

The rebound by the NASDAQ reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Microsoft (MSFT) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), among others.

On the other hand, shares of First Republic (FRC) extended the steep drop seen in the previous session, which came after the regional bank reported a loss of more than $100 billion in deposits in the first quarter, renewing concerns about turmoil in the banking sector.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods surged much more than expected in March amid a substantial rebound in orders for transportation equipment.

Crude oil futures ended sharply lower Wednesday as worries about the outlook for energy demand dragged down oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June were down $2.77 or 3.6 percent to settle at $74.30 a barrel.

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