Lower Open Predicted For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the four-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 380 points or 1.3 percent. The Hang Seng Index settled just above the 21,880-point plateau, and the losses may accelerate on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, thanks to renewed downward pressure on the price of crude oil - while profit taking ahead of the year's end also is likely. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the oil stocks and insurance companies.

For the day, the index tumbled 117.47 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 21,882.15 after trading between 21,868.03 and 22,114.56.

Among the actives, HSBC shed 0.24 percent, while Hang Seng Bank collected 0.41 percent, New World Development added 0.66 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) slipped 0.84 percent, China Unicom skidded 1.05 percent, PetroChina lost 0.96 percent, Ping An Insurance tumbled 1.94 percent and Bank of China retreated 1.42 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks moved lower on Wednesday as some traders locked in profits ahead of the impending New Year's holiday.

The Dow closed 117.24 points, or 0.66 percent, lower at 17,603.74, while the S&P 500 lost 15.01 points or 0.72 percent to 2,063.35 and the NASDAQ fell 42.09 points or 0.82 percent to end at 5,065.85.

Weighing on the markets, Nymex February crude oil plunged $1.27 or 3.4 percent to end at $36.60 a barrel.

On the economic front, the National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index fell 0.9 percent in November, indicating the third decline in the last four months.