Bargain Hunting May Boost Hong Kong Shares

The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, slumping more than 1,120 points or 5.6 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 19,825-point plateau and it may halt its slide on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky on a mixed outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished slightly lower on Wednesday following losses from the properties and mixed performances from the financials and technology stocks.

For the day, the index shed 23.43 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 19,823.45 after trading between 19,608.32 and 19,840.28.

Among the actives, ANTA Sports skidded 1.36 percent, while China Life Insurance climbed 1.28 percent, China Mengniu Dairy retreated 1.70 percent, China Resources Land slid 0.20 percent, CITIC dropped 0.55 percent, CNOOC gained 0.47 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical declined 1.69 percent, Galaxy Entertainment stumbled 1.44 percent, Haier Smart Home jumped 1.65 percent, Hang Lung Properties sank 0.46 percent, Henderson Land tanked 2.37 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas lost 0.33 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.43 percent, JD.com slumped 1.60 percent, Lenovo spiked 2.43 percent, Li Auto tumbled 1.94 percent, Li Ning strengthened 1.33 percent, Meituan dipped 0.17 percent, New World Development plunged 2.48 percent, Nongfu Spring added 0.48 percent, Techtronic Industries fell 0.28 percent, Xiaomi Corporation rallied 1.58 percent, WuXi Biologics plummeted 3.37 percent and Alibaba Group and Alibaba Health Info were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly higher on Wednesday but quickly faded and wound up mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 47.21 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 43,958.19, while the NASDAQ sank 50.66 points or 0.26 percent to close at 19,230.74 and the S&P 500 perked 1.39 points or 0.02 percent to end at 5,985.38.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came following the release of closely watched consumer price inflation data that came in line with estimates.

While the data increased confidence that the Federal Reserve will continue lowering interest rates next month, inflation remaining somewhat sticky led to uncertainty about the likelihood of future rate cuts.

CME Group’s FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 82.3 percent chance of another quarter point rate cut in December but a 60.2 percent chance rates will then be left unchanged in January.

Oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday thanks to short covering after recent sharp losses, while a firm dollar also weighed. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December closed up $0.31 or 0.46 percent at $68.43 a barrel.