Hong Kong Bourse May Head South Again On Thursday

The Hong Kong stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the three-day slide in which it had slumped more than 315 points or 1.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 24,125-point plateau although it’s likely to turn lower again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests further consolidation as rising bond yields continue to hammer technology stocks – although support from crude oil may limit the downside. The European markets were up and the U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished slightly higher on Wednesday as gains from the properties and oil companies were dented by weakness from the technology stocks.

For the day, the index rose 15.07 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 24,127.85 after trading between 23,951.60 and 24,286.14.

Among the actives, AAC Technologies skidded 1.08 percent, while AIA Group spiked 1.88 percent, Alibaba Group declined 1.74 percent, Alibaba Health Info dropped 0.92 percent, ANTA Sports tumbled 2.00 percent, China Life Insurance collected 1.18 percent, China Mengniu Dairy was up 0.11 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) advanced 0.97 percent, China Resources Land soared 3.83 percent, CITIC rallied 1.39 percent, CNOOC and JD.com both added 0.86 percent, Country Garden skyrocketed 8.42 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical jumped 1.46 percent, ENN Energy plummeted 3.22 percent, Galaxy Entertainment gained 0.23 percent, Hang Lung Properties climbed 1.24 percent, Henderson Land rose 0.15 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas shed 0.66 percent, Li Ning sank 1.05 percent, Longfor surged 4.39 percent, Meituan lost 0.65 percent, Techtronic Industries plunged 3.13 percent, Xiaomi Corporation retreated 1.61 percent, WuXi Biologics tanked 2.63 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, New World Development and CK Infrastructure were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages were unable to hold on to early gains on Wednesday, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finishing in the red for the second straight session.

For the day, the Dow tumbled 339.82 points or 0.96 percent to finish at 35,028.65, while the NASDAQ dropped 166.64 points or 1.15 percent to close at 14,340.25 and the S&P 500 sank 44.35 points or 0.97 percent to end at 4.532.76.

The late slide on Wall Street came amid rising Treasury yields and worries over inflation and looming interest rate hikes after U.S. Treasury yields hit fresh two-year highs amid Fed rate hike expectations.

Most analysts believe a rate hike of at least 25 basis points from the FOMC is imminent, although some are now starting to think it may be a 50 bp boost.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said that U.S. homebuilding increased to a nine-month high in December amid a surge in multi-family housing projects.

Crude oil prices continued their recent upward surge on Wednesday, rising for the fifth straight day to a fresh seven-year high following supply issues in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate for February contract jumped $1.22 or 1.43 percent to $86.65 per barrel.