(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, dropping more than 620 points or 2.6 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 23,635-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on interest rate and COVID-19 concerns, with oil and technology stocks again expected to lead the way lower. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.
The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the financials, properties, casinos and oil and technology stocks.
For the day, the index plummeted 318.63 points or 1.33 percent to finish at 23,635.95 after trading between 23,560.13 and 23,817.58.
Among the actives, AAC Technologies shed 1.53 percent, while AIA Group dropped 1.54 percent, Alibaba Group slumped 1.98 percent, Alibaba Health Info surrendered 3.54 percent, ANTA Sports rose 0.16 percent, China Life Insurance weakened 2.11 percent, China Mengniu Dairy climbed 0.55 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) fell 1.08 percent, China Resources Land tanked 4.69 percent, CITIC slipped 0.79 percent, CNOOC slid 0.90 percent, Country Garden plummeted 10.17 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical was down 0.36 percent, Galaxy Entertainment declined 3.41 percent, Hang Lung Properties lost 1.51 percent, Henderson Land sank 1.64 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas eased 0.17 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slumped 0.69 percent, Li Ning jumped 1.21 percent, Longfor retreated 2.80 percent, Meituan shed 0.73 percent, New World Development stumbled 2.24 percent, Sands China plunged 6.93 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties dipped 0.89 percent, Techtronic Industries skidded 2.62 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tumbled 4.16 percent and WuXi Biologics lost 0.25 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages spent most of the day in the red, although they finished off session lows.
The Dow skidded 106.77 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 35,544.18, while the NASDAQ tumbled 175.64 points or 1.14 percent to end at 15,237.64 and the S&P 500 sank 34.88 points or 0.75 percent to close at 4,634.09.
Concerns about the outlook for monetary policy continued to weigh on the markets as the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting got underway. With inflation remaining at an elevated rate, the Fed is widely expected to accelerate its timetable for reducing bond purchases.
Potentially adding to concerns about monetary policy, the Labor Department released a report showing producer prices increased by more than expected in November.
Lingering worries about the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus may also have generated some selling pressure after the World Health Organization warned the new variant is spreading faster than previous strains.
Crude oil futures dipped Tuesday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to renewed restrictions amid rising new cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down by $0.56 or 0.8 percent at $70.73 a barrel.
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