The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, retreating more than 380 points or 1.8 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 20,320-point plateau and its expected to open in the red again on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative, with pressure likely among technology stocks amid waning optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets finished firmly in the red and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.
The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the property stocks and technology companies.
For the day, the index lost 63.31 points or 0.31 percent to finish at the daily low of 20,317.33 after peaking at 20,553.30.
Among the actives, Alibaba Group tumbled 1.36 percent, while Alibaba Health Info fell 0.51 percent, ANTA Sports dropped 0.96 percent, China Life Insurance gained 0.86 percent, China Mengniu Dairy surged 3.45 percent, China Resources Land soared 2.78 percent, CITIC rose 0.11 percent, CNOOC advanced 0.89 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical plummeted 3.04 percent, Galaxy Entertainment skidded 1.00 percent, Haier Smart Home tanked 2.42 percent, Hang Lung Properties was down 0.15 percent, Henderson Land and CLP Holdings both lost 0.60 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas retreated 1.31 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.87 percent, JD.com slid 0.26 percent, Lenovo surrendered 1.90 percent, Li Auto slumped 1.10 percent, Li Ning dipped 0.25 percent, Meituan declined 1.19 percent, New World Development plunged 2.98 percent, Nongfu Spring shed 0.86 percent, Techtronic Industries sank 0.88 percent, Xiaomi Corporation rallied 2.69 percent and WuXi Biologics eased 0.12 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened solidly under water and stayed that way throughout the trading day.
The Dow tumbled 378.08 points or 0.90 percent to finish at 41,763.46, while the NASDAQ plummeted 512.78 points or 2.76 percent to close at 18,095.15 and the S&P 500 slumped 108.22 points or 1.86 percent to end at 5,705.45.
The sell-off on Wall Street came amid a negative reaction to earnings news from tech giants Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta Platforms (META).
Traders were also reacting to closely watched consumer price inflation data that largely came in line with economist estimates, although core CPI resisted lower forecasts to remain unchanged. That added to recent concerns the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates more slowly than hoped.
Oil prices climbed higher on Thursday amid expectations of increased demand from the U.S. and a likely delay in OPECs planned output increase from December. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $0.65 or 0.95 percent at $69.26 a barrel.
Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide September figures for retail sales later today; in August, sales dropped 10.1 percent on year.