Lower Open Called For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had gained more than 230 points or 1.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 17,000-point plateau and it's likely to open to the downside again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with heavy damage expected among the technology shares. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to lower and the Asian bourses are expected to open under pressure.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Tuesday with damage across the board, especially among the property stocks and energy companies.

For the day, the index slumped 235.43 points or 1.37 percent to finish at 17,002.91 after trading between 16,971.60 and 17,194.37.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group dipped 0.46 percent, while Alibaba Health Info retreated 2.48 percent, ANTA Sports and Haier Smart Home both tumbled 2.94 percent, China Life Insurance shed 1.51 percent, China Mengniu Dairy plunged 6.52 percent, China Resources Land stumbled 2.73 percent, CITIC dropped 1.53 percent, CNOOC tanked 3.30 percent, Country Garden sank 1.52 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical declined 2.07 percent, Galaxy Entertainment surrendered 3.11 percent, Hang Lung Properties plummeted 11.74 percent, Henderson Land stumbled 2.69 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas and ENN Energy both slumped 1.70 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 1.37 percent, JD.com lost 1.45 percent, Lenovo eased 0.40 percent, Li Ning tumbled 2.90 percent, Meituan retreated 1.85 percent, New World Development plunged 4.10 percent, Techtronic Industries skidded 1.64 percent, Xiaomi Corporation surrendered 2.97 percent and WuXi Biologics slid 0.57 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly negative as the major averages opened slightly higher but quickly faded and finally finished mixed.

The Dow jumped 203.40 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 40,743.33, while the NASDAQ plummeted 222.79 points or 1.28 percent to close at 17,147.42 and the S&P 500 sank 27.10 points or 0.50 percent to end at 5,436.44.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but the accompanying statement could have a significant impact on the outlook for the central bank's next decision in September.

The steep drop by the NASDAQ came as tech stocks came under pressure as the day progressed, weighed by the likes of Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

Among tech stocks, semiconductor stocks saw some of the worst performances, resulting in a 3.9 percent nosedive by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. The index slumped to its lowest closing level in well over two months.

Oil prices fell Tuesday amid continued concerns about the outlook for demand, and ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement and weekly inventory data later today. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for September ended down $1.08 or 1.42 percent at $74.73 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will see preliminary Q2 data for gross domestic product later today; in the first quarter, GDP was up 2.3 percent on quarter and 2.7 percent on year.