Bargain Hunting May Boost Hong Kong Shares

The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, tumbling almost 650 points or 3.6 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 18,200-point plateau although it’s due for support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with tech shares likely to weigh. The European and U.S. markets were mixed but little changed and the Asian markets are likely to open in similar fashion on Friday.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the technology stocks and properties.

For the day, the index plummeted 247.91 points or 1.34 percent to finish at 18,202.07 after trading between 18,173.44 and 18,437.48.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group skidded 1.57 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plummeted 3.88 percent, ANTA Sports slipped 0.84 percent, China Life Insurance stumbled 1.76 percent, China Mengniu Dairy eased 0.19 percent, China Resources Land slumped 1.60 percent, CITIC retreated 1.94 percent, CNOOC added 0.52 percent, Country Garden declined 2.07 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical was down 0.35 percent, ENN Energy surged 4.46 percent, Galaxy Entertainment dropped 1.49 percent, Hang Lung Properties slid 1.13 percent, Henderson Land fell 1.17 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dipped 0.87 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China advanced 0.80 percent, JD.com tanked 3.09 percent, Lenovo plunged 3.36 percent, Li Ning sank 1.45 percent, Meituan tumbled 2.57 percent, New World Development lost 1.41 percent, Techtronic Industries shed 1.43 percent, Xiaomi Corporation jumped 1.19 percent and WuXi Biologics surrendered 2.22 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened mixed and finished little changed in similar fashion.

The Dow rose 57.54 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 34,500.73, while the NASDAQ sank 123.64 points or 0.89 percent to end at 13,748.83 and the S&P 500 fell 14.34 points or 0.32 percent to close at 4,451.14.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates after the Labor Department reported an unexpected drop in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

The Fed is still widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its next meeting later this month, but CME Group’s FedWatch Tool indicates a 43.4 percent chance of another rate hike in November.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ was weighed by weakness from Apple (AAPL) after reports said China plans to expand a ban on the use of iPhones in sensitive departments to government-backed agencies and state companies.

Crude oil prices fell on Thursday, despite a drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. Profit taking after recent strong gains was largely responsible as West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended lower by $0.67 or 0.9 percent at $86.87 a barrel.