No Help Yet For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in consecutive trading days, sinking more than 350 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 18,475-point plateau and it's likely to open to the downside again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on concerns over treasury yields and the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Wednesday with damage across the board, especially among the financials, properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index stumbled 344.15 points or 1.83 percent to finish at 18,477.01 after trading between 18,425.09 and 18,694.55.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group tumbled 3.46 percent, while Alibaba Health Info surged 5.03 percent, ANTA Sports skidded 2.00 percent, China Life Insurance weakened 2.38 percent, China Mengniu Dairy dipped 1.42 percent, China Resources Land slid 1.48 percent, CITIC retreated 3.34 percent, CNOOC jumped 1.70 percent, Country Garden plunged 4.42 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical surrendered 3.98 percent, Galaxy Entertainment slipped 1.15 percent, Hang Lung Properties rallied 1.36 percent, Henderson Land shed 1.78 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas was down 0.96 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China sank 1.94 percent, JD.com declined 3.21 percent, Lenovo lost 1.69 percent, Li Ning tanked 4.33 percent, Meituan plummeted 5.29 percent, New World Development fell 1.56 percent, Techtronic Industries stumbled 2.97 percent, Xiaomi Corporation dropped 1.98 percent and WuXi Biologics slumped 2.73 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened firmly lower on Wednesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow plunged 411.32 points or 1.06 percent to finish at 38,441.54, while the NASDAQ slumped 99.30 points or 0.58 percent to close ta 16,920.58 and the S&P 500 sank 39.09 points or 0.74 percent to end at 5,266.95.

The weakness on Wall Street came amid a continued increase by treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note climbing to its highest levels in nearly a month.

The continued advance by treasury yields has added to recent concerns about the outlook for interest rates ahead of key inflation data later in the week.

Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday on concerns about the outlook for interest rates, and the likely adverse impact high borrowing costs will have on energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July sank $0.60 at $79.23 a barrel.