Continued Consolidation Expected For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Wednesday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 260 points or 1.5 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 17,700-point plateau and it may take further damage on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of key inflation data. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, consumer companies and technology stocks, while the property sector was mixed.

For the day, the index stumbled 182.25 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 17,692.45 after trading between 17,659.29 and 17,879.01.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group shed 1.06 percent, while Alibaba Health Info declined 2.40 percent, ANTA Sports surged 4.47 percent, China Mengniu Dairy and Haier Smart Home both retreated 2.59 percent, China Resources Land plunged 5.22 percent, CITIC gained 0.39 percent, CNOOC slid 0.47 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical stumbled 2.69 percent, Galaxy Entertainment lost 0.97 percent, Hang Lung Properties rose 0.17 percent, Henderson Land rallied 1.25 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas was down 0.31 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 0.84 percent, JD.com jumped 1.77 percent, Lenovo sank 1.25 percent, Li Auto tanked 3.45 percent, Li Ning tumbled 3.14 percent, Meituan surrendered 3.20 percent, New World Development skidded 1.42 percent, Nongfu Spring plummeted 10.43 percent, Techtronic Industries dropped 1.32 percent, Xiaomi Corporation added 0.42 percent, WuXi Biologics slumped 1.87 percent and China Life Insurance was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower and mostly remained under water throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 159.08 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 41,091.42, while the NASDAQ sank 198.79 points or 1.12 percent to end at 17,556.03 and the S&P 500 lost 33.62 points or 0.60 percent to close at 5,592.18.

The weakness on Wall Street partly reflected anxiety ahead of the release of market leader Nvidia's (NVDA) fiscal second quarter results after the close of trading.

After the markets closed, Nvidia showed a profit for its second quarter that increased from last year and beat estimates.

Stocks were also under pressure as traders looked ahead to Friday's Commerce Department report on personal income and spending in July, which includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve. While the data is not likely to affect optimism the Fed will lower rates next month, it could impact expectations for how quickly the central bank cuts rates.

Crude oil futures dropped Wednesday on concerns about the outlook for global oil demand, and on data showing a much smaller than expected drop in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October sank $1.01 or 1.34 percent at $74.52 a barrel.