The Hong Kong stock market on Tuesday snapped the three-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than 740 points or 2.8 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 28,800-point plateau and it may tick slightly higher on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with traders waiting on the FOMC's interest rate decision later today. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat - and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Tuesday as losses from the casinos, utilities and insurance companies were offset by support from the financials and oil companies.
For the day, the index fell 171.41 points or 0.59 percent to finish at 28.793.88 after trading between 28,745.73 and 29,066.77.
Among the actives, CNOOC surged 3.59 percent, while Ping An Insurance plummeted 3.32 percent, WH Group plunged 3.05 percent, Tencent Holdings tumbled 3.01 percent, Galaxy Entertainment skidded 1.54 percent, BOC Hong Kong jumped 0.90 percent, Sands China dropped 0.76 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.67 percent, China Mobile advanced 0.66 percent, China Life shed 0.60 percent, Henderson Land added 0.41 percent, New World Development lost 0.36 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas fell 0.26 percent, Lenovo Group was down 0.23 percent and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) gained 0.18 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is inconclusive as stocks were fairly rangebound on Tuesday, eventually finishing on opposite sides of the unchanged line - although the Dow and the S&P hit fresh record closing highs.
The Dow added 118.77 points or 0.49 percent to 24,504.80, while the NASDAQ fell 12.76 points or 0.19 percent to 6,862.32 and the S&P 500 gained 4.12 points or 0.15 percent to 2,664.11.
Traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the monetary policy announcement by the Federal Reserve later today.
With the Fed widely expected to raise interest rates by a quarter-point, traders are likely to keep a close eye on the accompanying statement as well as outgoing Fed Chair Janet Yellen's press conference for clues about the outlook for future rate hikes.
by RTT Staff Writer
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