The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, plunging nearly 650 points or 3.8 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 16,700-point plateau and its expected to open in the red again on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is bleak on continuing concerns about the health of the U.S. economy. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower on Monday and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion again - although this selloff is quite overdone and may fade as the day progresses.
The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the technology stocks and financials, while the property sector was mixed.
For the day, the index was down 247.15 points or 1.46 percent to finish at 16,698.36 after trading between 16,441.44 and 16,944.59.
Among the actives, Alibaba Group stumbled 1.53 percent, while Alibaba Health Info jumped 1.26 percent, ANTA Sports eased 0.07 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.38 percent, China Mengniu Dairy soared 3.34 percent, China Resources Land advanced 0.67 percent, CITIC declined 1.40 percent, CNOOC plummeted 6.37 percent, Country Garden sank 0.44 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical dropped 0.52 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rallied 2.24 percent, Hang Lung Properties lost 0.18 percent, Henderson Land shed 0.23 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas added 0.46 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China surrendered 2.31 percent, JD.com retreated 1.47 percent, Lenovo skidded 1.24 percent, Li Ning and ENN Energy both tanked 3.22 percent, Meituan spiked 2.69 percent, New World Development surged 5.34 percent, Techtronic Industries plunged 4.24 percent, Xiaomi Corporation slumped 1.37 percent and WuXi Biologics tumbled 2.63 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened deep in the red on Monday and stayed that way throughout the trading day.
The Dow plummeted 1,033 .99 points or 2.60 percent to finish at 38,703.27, while the NASDAQ tanked 576.08 points or 3.43 percent to close at 16,200.08 and the S&P 500 plunged 160.23 points or 3.00 percent to end at 5,186.33.
The continued weakness on Wall Street came on concerns that the U.S. economy may slip into recession following last Fridays disappointing jobs report.
Stocks regained some ground following the release of a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing service sector activity in the U.S. turned positive in the month of July.
Oil futures lower on Monday on concerns about the outlook for demand amid fears the U.S. economy could slip into a recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September sank $0.58 or 0.7 percent at $72.94 a barrel.