Hong Kong Stock Market May Open Under Pressure On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Tuesday wrote a finish to the two-day winning streak in which it had rallied more than 850 points or 4.2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 20,310-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with weakness expected from the computer, semiconductor and housing sectors. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the oil and insurance companies and mixed performance from the technology and property sectors.

For the day, the index slumped 102.81 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 20,311.28 after trading between 20,308.86 and 21,070.05.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group shed 0.35 percent, while Alibaba Health Info retreated 1.83 percent, ANTA Sports sank 0.90 percent, China Life Insurance plunged 3.21 percent, China Resources Land tumbled 2.23 percent, CITIC skidded 1.41 percent, CNOOC slumped 1.66 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical declined 1.75 percent, Galaxy Entertainment added 0.55 percent, Haier Smart Home dropped 1.22 percent, Hang Lung Properties gathered 0.15 percent, Henderson Land fell 0.20 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas increased 0.50 percent, JD.com improved 0.72 percent, Lenovo advanced 0.85 percent, Li Auto stumbled 2.01 percent, Li Ning rose 0.34 percent, Meituan perked 0.06 percent, New World Development gained 0.45 percent, Nongfu Spring tanked 2.71 percent, Techtronic Industries lost 0.26 percent, WuXi Biologics plummeted 3.89 percent and China Mengniu Dairy, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Xiaomi Corporation were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened flat on Tuesday and hugged the line for most of the session before sinking firmly into the red late in the day.

The Dow dropped 154.10 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 44,247.83, while the NASDAQ sank 49.45 points or 0.25 percent to close at 19,687.24 and the S&P 500 fell 17.94 points or 0.30 percent to end at 6,034.91.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came as traders continued to cash in on recent strength in the markets ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched report on consumer price inflation later today.

While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower rates by another 25 basis points next week, the data could impact the outlook for future rate cuts by the central bank.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 86.1 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point next week but a 69.1 percent chance the central bank will then leave rates unchanged in late January.

Oil futures settled higher on Tuesday amid hopes that demand from China will increase following recent stimulus measures announced by the Chinese government. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January closed up $0.22 or 0.32 percent at $68.59 a barrel.