Hong Kong Bourse Due For Support On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, dropping more than 550 points or 3 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 17,930-point plateau although it's tipped to find traction on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is generally upbeat following the FOMC's rate decision. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Wednesday as the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies ended mostly in the red.

For the day, the index stumbled 238.50 points or 1.31 percent to finish at 17,937.84 after trading between 17,848.76 and 18,063.72.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group slipped 0.91 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plunged 6.58 percent, ANTA Sports retreated 3.30 percent, China Life Insurance and CLP Holdings both lost 1.44 percent, China Mengniu Dairy tanked 4.30 percent, China Resources Land stumbled 2.85 percent, CITIC slumped 2.43 percent, CNOOC surged 2.35 percent, Country Garden declined 3.08 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical skidded 1.88 percent, Galaxy Entertainment surrendered 3.67 percent, Hang Lung Properties rallied 1.46 percent, Henderson Land was down 0.68 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dropped 1.70 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 0.92 percent, JD.com sank 1.64 percent, Lenovo and CK Infrastructure both shed 1.47 percent, Li Ning plummeted 7.31 percent, Meituan weakened 2.34 percent, New World Development tumbled 3.47 percent, Techtronic Industries slid 0.94 percent, Xiaomi Corporation fell 1.04 percent and WuXi Biologics skyrocketed 14.21 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday, although the Dow couldn't hold its gains and slipped into the red.

The Dow shed 35.21 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 38,712.21, while the NASDAQ rallied 264.89 points or 1.53 percent to close at 17,608.44 and the S&P 500 gained 45.71 points or 0.85 percent to end at 5,421.03.

The early rally on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing U.S. consumer prices were unexpectedly flat in May, which led to renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

But later in the day, the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement revealed that officials now expect only one interest rate cut this year.

The Fed acknowledged modest further progress toward its inflation objective in recent months but said officials still need greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably towards the target before they will consider lowering rates.

Oil prices climbed higher Wednesday on hopes of increased demand and tighter supply conditions later in the year, as well as a weak dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July rose $0.60 at $78.50 a barrel.