The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, plummeting more than 1,600 points or 5.2 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 28,550-point plateau although it's expected to find traction on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets calls for a technical rebound after heavy losses and highly speculative trading in the previous session. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financials, properties, oil companies and technology stocks.
For the day, the index plunged 746.76 points or 2.55 percent to finish at 28,550.77 after trading between 28,467.01 and 29,191.68.
Among the actives, Techtronic Industries plummeted 7.57 percent, while AIA Group plunged 4.66 percent, WuXi Biologics tanked 4.03 percent, Hengan International surged 3.95 percent, China Resources Land tumbled 3.94 percent, ANTA Sports skidded 3.83 percent, Alibaba Group retreated 3.23 percent, Galaxy Entertainment declined 2.95 percent, AAC Technologies surrendered 2.93 percent, Ping An Insurance sank 2.71 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical dropped 2.62 percent, Meituan shed 2.31 percent, China Life Insurance and Henderson Land both lost 2.00 percent, Wharf Real Estate spiked 1.78 percent, CNOOC fell 1.74 percent, BOC Hong Kong tumbled 1.67 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China skidded 1.58 percent, CITIC sank 1.28 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties retreated 1.20 percent, Hang Lung Properties declined 1.17 percent, New World Development dropped 1.08 percent, China Mengniu Dairy shed 1.07 percent, Xiaomi Corporation lost 0.85 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) fell 0.79 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas added 0.36 percent, Sands China gained 0.32 percent and Power Assets was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is solid as stocks opened higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the session after two days of weakness.
The Dow climbed 300.19 points or 0.99 percent to finish at 30,603.36, while the NASDAQ gained 66.56 points or 0.50 percent to end at 13,337.16 and the S&P 500 added 36.61 points or 0.98 percent to close at 3,787.38.
The early rally on Wall Street followed a report from the Labor Department showing a bigger than expected drop in first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits last week.
Also, the Commerce Department said economic growth matched estimates in the fourth quarter of 2020, and also that new home sales in the U.S. rebounded in December after falling in four consecutive months.
On the corporate scene, shares of Apple (AAPL) and Tesla (TSLA) slumped after disappointing earnings news, while heavily shorted stocks like GameStop (GME), AMC Entertainment (AMC) and Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) gave back ground after skyrocketing in the previous session.
Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday on worries about the outlook for energy demand due to rising coronavirus cases, tighter lockdown restrictions and delays in vaccine supplies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March sank $0.51 or 1 percent at $52.34 a barrel.
Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide an advance estimate for Q4 gross domestic product later today; in Q4, GDP was up 2.8 percent on quarter and down 3.5 percent on year.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
