The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, plummeting almost 1,650 points or 5 percent along the way. The Hang Send Index now rests just beneath the 29,470-point plateau and it may take further damage on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets remains broadly negative on continuing trade war concerns and a drop in crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.
The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Tuesday with broadly based losses - especially the casinos, properties, oil companies and insurance stocks.
For the day, the index tumbled 841.34 points or 2.78 percent to finish at 29,468.15 after trading between 29,332.28 and 30,012.04.
Among the actives, WH Group plummeted 5.68 percent, while Galaxy Entertainment plunged 3.50 percent, Sands China tumbled 3.46 percent, Sino Land skidded 3.27 percent, Tencent Holdings dropped 3.22 percent, AIA Group retreated 3.16 percent, CNOOC declined 3.09 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 3.00 percent, New World Development lost 2.74 percent, China Life fell 2.73 percent, Ping An Insurance slid 2.71 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical was down 2.70 percent, CITIC contracted 1.85 percent and China Mobile dipped 1.42 percent.
After showing a significant move to the downside early Tuesday, stocks regained some ground but still closed in negative territory.
The Dow plunged 287.26 points or 1.15 percent to 24,700.21, while the NASDAQ shed 21.44 points or 0.28 percent and the S&P 500 fell 11.18 points or 0.40 percent to 2,762.57.
Trade war concerns weighed on Wall Street after President Donald Trump directed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to identify $200 billion worth of Chinese goods for additional tariffs at a rate of 10 percent.
Trump said the tariffs will go into effect if China refuses to change its unfair trade practices and moves forward with recently announced tariffs.
In economic news, the Commerce Department reported a bigger than expected jump in new residential construction in May, although there was a steeper than expected drop in building permits.
Crude oil futures tumbled Tuesday as OPEC geared up for a contentious meeting in Vienna, with Saudi Arabia expected to press for increased output. July WTI oil settled at $65.07/bbl, down 78 cents or 1.2 percent. Oil is down almost 10 percent over the past month.
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