The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 620 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 28,000-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation on concerns over the outlook for interest rates and stimulus. The European and U.S. markets were firmly lower and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the financials, properties, casinos and oil and technology companies.
For the day, the index plunged 581.89 points or 2.03 percent to finish at 28,013.81 after trading between 27,910.71 and 28,286.56.
Among the actives, AAC Technologies lost 1.44 percent, while AIA Group skidded 3.14 percent, Alibaba Group tanked 3.53 percent, Alibaba Health Info dropped 1.50 percent, ANTA Sports slipped 1.67 percent, China Life Insurance fell 1.38 percent, China Mengniu Dairy spiked 2.56 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) declined 2.84 percent, China Resources Land was down 1.33 percent, CITIC surrendered 2.62 percent, CNOOC tumbled 3.51 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical added 0.51 percent, Galaxy Entertainment retreated 2.97 percent, Hang Lung Properties plunged 3.80 percent, Henderson Land slid 1.94 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas lost 2.22 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China eased 0.60 percent, Longfor and Techtronic Industries both dropped 2.47 percent, Meituan plummeted 5.25 percent, New World Development sank 2.60 percent, Sands China fell 2.15 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties sank 1.59 percent, Xiaomi Corporation shed 2.38 percent and WuXi Biologics rose 0.39 percent,
The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the session.
The Dow plunged 473.66 points or 1.36 percent to finish at 34,269.16, while the NASDAQ dipped 12.43 points or 0.09 percent to end at 13,389.43 and the S&P 500 fell 36.33 points or 0.87 percent to close at 4,152.10.
The weakness on Wall Street reflected concerns about an acceleration in the rate of inflation and potential monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve.
Adding to the inflation concerns, the Labor Department said the number of job openings reached a series high of 8.1 million on the last business day of March. The data led to worries that employers will have to raise wages to entice workers, which could prompt higher inflation.
Crude oil futures settled higher Tuesday following a report from OPEC that said demand is expected to rise by 5.95 million barrels per day or 6.6 percent this year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended up by $0.36 or 0.6 percent at $65.28 a barrel.
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