Oversold Hang Seng Nonetheless Called Lower Again

The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in five straight sessions, slumping more than 1,600 points or 7.6 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 19,435-point plateau and it’s got another negative lead for Friday’s trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower again on Thursday with damage in all sectors, especially the technology, entertainment and property stocks.

For the day, the index tumbled 387.64 points or 1.96 percent to finish at 19,435.81 after trading between 19,392.59 and 19,859.17.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group slumped 2.87 percent, while Alibaba Health Info and CITIC both stumbled 3.12 percent, ANTA Sports skidded 2.40 percent, China Life Insurance fell 0.76 percent, China Mengniu Dairy plunged 4.05 percent, China Resources Land tanked 3.99 percent, CNOOC sank 1.65 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical lost 1.14 percent, Galaxy Entertainment plummeted 4.54 percent, Haier Smart Home eased 0.36 percent, Hang Lung Properties dropped 1.69 percent, Henderson Land added 0.40 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas slid 0.66 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was down 0.65 percent, JD.com plunged 4.72 percent, Lenovo tanked 3.71 percent, Li Auto declined 3.05 percent, Li Ning retreated 3.11 percent, Meituan surrendered 3.48 percent, New World Development stumbled 3.61 percent, Nongfu Spring slumped 3.04 percent, Techtronic Industries shed 1.50 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tumbled 3.63 percent and WuXi Biologics plummeted 5.60 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened flat on Thursday but quickly fell into the red and stayed that way, ending near session lows.

The Dow dropped 207.33 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 43,750.86, while the NASDAQ slumped 123.07 points or 0.64 percent to close at 19,107.65 and the S&P 500 sank 36.21 points or 0.60 percent to end at 5,949.17.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street late in the session came after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank does not “need to be in a hurry to lower rates” due to the strength of the economy.

Powell’s remarks came as the latest batch of U.S. economy data generated some uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates after the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits unexpectedly edged lower last week.

While the Fed is still widely expected to lower interest rates by a quarter point next month, there is some concern that sticky inflation will lead the central bank to slow the pace of its rate cuts in early 2025.

Oil futures settled higher on Thursday, supported by data showing a drop in gasoline stockpiles. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed up $0.27 or about 0.4 percent at $68.70 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will release Q3 data for gross domestic product later today; in the previous three months, GDP was down 1.1 percent on quarter and up 1.8 percent on year.