Higher Open Predicted For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market headed south again on Wednesday, one day after ending the five-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 800 points or 4.6 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 17,100-point plateau although it's likely to bounce higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares and property stocks, while the technology companies were mixed.

For the day, the index lost 125.38 points or 0.73 percent to finish at 17,108.71 after trading between 16,964.28 and 17,124.96.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group eased 0.18 percent, while Alibaba Health Info shed 0.71 percent, ANTA Sports surrendered 3.30 percent, China Life Insurance lost 0.54 percent, China Mengniu Dairy skidded 0.97 percent, China Resources Land rose 0.21 percent, CITIC declined 2.04 percent, CNOOC tumbled 2.30 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical slid 0.22 percent, Galaxy Entertainment tanked 3.46 percent, Haier Smart Home surged 3.94 percent, Hang Lung Properties sank 0.74 percent, Henderson Land and Lenovo both added 0.22 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas slumped 1.14 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China retreated 2.14 percent, JD.com fell 0.49 percent, Li Auto stumbled 1.31 percent, Li Ning plummeted 4.12 percent, Meituan advanced 0.42 percent, New World Development plunged 3.98 percent, Techtronic Industries dropped 0.96 percent, Xiaomi Corporation rallied 1.61 percent and WuXi Biologics soared 3.67 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages shook off early weakness and trended steadily higher throughout the day, ending near session highs.

The Dow climbed 124.75 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 40,861.71, while the NASDAQ surged 369.65 points or 2.17 percent to end at 17,395.53 and the S&P 500 rallied 58.61 points or 1.07 percent to close at 5,554.13.

The early sell-off on Wall Street followed the release of the Labor Department's closely watched consumer price inflation report for August.

While the report showed consumer prices increased in line with economist estimates, core consumer prices rose slightly more than expected.

Stocks moved sharply lower as the data seemingly reduced the chances that the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates by 50 basis points next week. But selling pressure waned dramatically over the course session as the Fed is still expected to continue lowering rates in the coming months.

Crude oil prices surged higher on Wednesday, recovering from a three-year low in the previous session thanks to fears of prolonged production shutdowns in the offshore oil patch due to Hurricane Francine. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended up by $1.56 or 2.37 percent at $67.31 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide Q2 numbers for industrial production and producer prices later today; in the three months prior, production was up 1.8 percent on year and producer prices rose 1.2 percent on year.