Hang Seng May Take Further Damage On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Tuesday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had gained almost 600 points or 2.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 24,500-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with profit taking on the docket after a few days of solid gains. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

Th Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the property and technology stocks, while the financials came in mixed.

For the day, the index tumbled 348.72 points or 1.40 percent to finish at 24,493.95 after trading between 24,378.69 and 24,844.98.

Among the actives, AIA dropped 1.70 percent, while Alibaba Group slumped 2.10 percent, Baidu plummeted 3.49 percent, Bank of China dipped 0.36 percent, BOC Hong Kong added 0.62 percent, China Construction Bank was down 0.22 percent, China Life Insurance tumbled 2.50 percent, China Merchants Bank slipped 0.56 percent, China Mobile lost 0.67 percent, China Petroleum & Chemical skidded 2.06 percent, China Shenhua Energy gained 0.33 percent, CITIC perked 0.08 percent, CNOOC surrendered 2.56 percent, Hong Kong Exchange eased 0.21 percent, HSBC rose 0.14 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.42 percent, JD.com sank 0.80 percent, Lenovo Group surged 4.26 percent, Meituan cratered 3.77 percent, NetEase stumbled 2.40 percent, Nongfu Spring slid 0.54 percent, PetroChina gave up 2.00 percent, Ping An Insurance retreated 2.34 percent, Semiconductor Manufacturing plunge 3.46 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties contracted 2.26 percent, Tencent Holdings crashed 2.65 percent, Xiaomi Corporation declined 2.28 percent, WuXi AppTec shed 0.72 percent and Zijin Mining fell 0.66 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed to lower as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday but only the Dow was able to hold on to its gains as the markets finished mixed.

The Dow rallied 328.64 points or 0.64 percent to finish at a record 51,999.67, while the NASDAQ dropped 307.60 points or 1.15 percent to end at 26,376.34 and the S&P 500 sank 42.94 points or 0.57 percent to close at 7,511.35.

The pullback by the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 reflected profit taking following recent strength in the markets. Optimism about an end to the monthslong U.S.-Iran contributed to the recent recovery, but some traders cashed in on gains as they wait for the peace deal to be finalized.

The mixed performance on Wall Street also came as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but the accompanying statement and new Chair Kevin Warsh's post-meeting comments could impact the outlook for rates.

On the inflation front, a report released by the Labor Department showed import prices in the U.S. shot up by much more than expected in the month of May.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Tuesday as transit disruption concerns faded due to the anticipated U.S.-Iran deal. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was down $4.90 or 6.07 percent at $75.85 per barrel.