The Hong Kong stock emphatically ended the two-day winning streak in which it had surged almost 1,000 points or 4.6 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 20,925-point plateau although it may cut into some of those losses on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside, fueled by support from the technology companies. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Tuesday on profit taking following unsustainably huge gains over the past few weeks.
For the day, the index plummeted 2,172.99 points or 9.41 percent to finish at 20,926.79 after trading between 20,762.82 and 22,902.36.
Among the actives, Alibaba Group sank 8.81 percent, while Alibaba Health Info crashed 18.67 percent, ANTA Sports slumped 9.17 percent, China Life Insurance plummeted 20.88 percent, China Mengniu Dairy plunged 19.37 percent, China Resources Land tanked 13.36 percent, CITIC surrendered 10.51 percent, CNOOC shed 7.71 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical fell 1.12 percent, Galaxy Entertainment stumbled 12.24 percent, Haier Smart Home dropped 9.51 percent, Hang Lung Properties tumbled 12.59 percent, Henderson Land slid 3.59 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas was down 3.37 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 4.35 percent, JD.com surrendered 11.94 percent, Lenovo stumbled 10.71 percent, Li Auto tanked 12.88 percent, Li Ning crashed 13.96 percent, Meituan plunged 15.48 percent, New World Development declined 10.14 percent, Nongfu Spring retreated 10.34 percent, Techtronic Industries lost 6.49 percent, Xiaomi Corporation slumped 8.32 percent and WuXi Biologics plummeted 16.59 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened mixed but quickly moved up into positive territory and stayed that way.
The Dow jumped 126.13 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 42,080.37, while the NASDAQ rallied 259.01 points or 1.45 percent to end at 18,182.92 and the S&P 500 advanced 55.19 points or 0.97 percent to close at 5,751.13.
The strength on Wall Street came as traders went shopping for bargains, especially among the technology companies.
In economic news, the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $70.4 billion in August 2024, the lowest in five months, from an upwardly revised $78.9 billion in July. Exports increased 2 percent to a record high of $271.8 billion, while imports dropped 0.9 percent to $342.2 billion.
Data on U.S. consumer price and producer price inflation are due later in the week.
Oil prices tumbled Tuesday as supply disruptions concerns eased a bit on reports Israel is unlikely to attack Iranian oil facilities. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November sank $3.57 or 4.63 percent at $73.57 a barrel.