Lower Open Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, retreating more than 900 points or 4.8 percent in that span. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 18,330-point plateau and it’s predicted to open lower again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on renewed concerns 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 sharply lower again on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index tumbled 251.81 points or 1.36 percent to finish at 18,329.30 after trading between 18,261.85 and 18,440.96.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group tumbled 2.14 percent, while Alibaba Health Info fell 0.57 percent, ANTA Sports tanked 3.37 percent, China Life Insurance surrendered 2.79 percent, China Mengniu Dairy retreated 1.74 percent, China Resources Land advanced 0.77 percent, CITIC weakened 1.51 percent, CNOOC skidded 1.41 percent, Country Garden surged 3.15 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical dipped 0.34 percent, Galaxy Entertainment dropped 1.31 percent, Hang Lung Properties added 0.58 percent, Henderson Land declined 1.83 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas plunged 3.38 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China stumbled 1.72 percent, JD.com sank 1.13 percent, Lenovo jumped 1.54 percent, Li Ning plummeted 4.02 percent, Meituan shed 1.12 percent, New World Development rose 0.35 percent, Techtronic Industries slumped 1.57 percent, Xiaomi Corporation lost 0.67 percent and WuXi Biologics gained 0.36 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened slightly higher on Wednesday but quickly turned lower and ended solidly in the red.

The Dow dropped 180.65 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 34,765.74, while the NASDAQ tumbled 156.42 points or 1.15 percent to close at 13,474.63 and the S&P 500 sank 33.53 points or 076 percent to end at 4,404.33.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street followed the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting, which said “most of the central bank officials continued to see significant upside risks to inflation, which could require further tightening of monetary policy.”

In economic news, U.S. industrial and manufacturing production both eased in July, while building permits and housing starts saw mild upside.

Crude oil prices slipped Wednesday amid worries about the outlook for energy demand from China and uncertainty over interest rates. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September shed $1.61 or 2 percent at $79.38 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will release unemployment data for July later today, with the jobless rate expected to ease to 2.8 percent from 2.9 percent in June.