The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, tumbling more than 560 points or 2.8 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 19,115-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian is increasingly negative as the debt ceiling situation in the United States continues to drag on. The European and U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.
The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Wednesday with damage across the board, particularly among the financials, properties and oil and technology stocks.
For the day, the index plummeted 315.32 points or 1.62 percent to finish at 19,115.93 after trading between 19,046.80 and 19,304.20.
Among the actives, Alibaba Group and China Resources Land both slumped 2.35 percent, while Alibaba Health Info tanked 4.50 percent, ANTA Sports lost 1.17 percent, China Life Insurance stumbled 2.78 percent, China Mengniu Dairy shed 1.44 percent, CITIC plunged 5.68 percent, CNOOC was down 0.78 percent, Country Garden surrendered 3.73 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical declined 2.74 percent, Galaxy Entertainment crashed 4.31 percent, Hang Lung Properties retreated 2.36 percent, Henderson Land dipped .93 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas added 0.41 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dropped 2.05 percent, JD.com weakened 2.24 percent, Lenovo plummeted 7.65 percent, Li Ning skidded 2.07 percent, Meituan sank 1.81 percent, New World Development gained 0.31 percent, Techtronic Industries slid 0.97 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tumbled 3.35 percent and WuXi Biologics fell 1.11 percent.
The lead from Wall Street suggests continued consolidation as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.
The Dow tumbled 255.59 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 32,799.92. while the NASDAQ sank 76.08 points or 0.61 percent to close at 12,484.16 and the S&P 500 dropped 30.34 points or 0.73 percent to end at 4,115.24.
Lingering concerns about lawmakers' ability to reach an agreement on increasing the U.S. debt ceiling continued to weigh on Wall Street.
While negotiations have continued this week, traders remain worried about reports suggesting a lack of progress towards a deal.
Traders were also digesting the minutes of the Federal Reserve's May monetary policy meeting, which indicated uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.
Crude oil prices moved higher Wednesday, rising for the third consecutive session on concerns over tightening supply after data showed a larger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July jumped $1.43 or 2 percent at $74.34 a barrel.
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