The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on recession concerns and on the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the financials, properties, oil companies and technology stocks.
For the day, the index plummeted 626.36 points or 3.22 percent to finish at 18,814.82 after trading between 18,799.81 and 19,737.31.
Among the actives, Alibaba Group plunged 5.34 percent, while Alibaba Health Info fell 0.70 percent, ANTA Sports retreated 2.23 percent, China Life Insurance and Galaxy Entertainment both surrendered 3.58 percent, China Mengniu Dairy stumbled 2.18 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) retreated 2,14 percent, China Resources Land tanked 5.32 percent, CITIC skidded 1.53 percent, CNOOC shed 1.00 percent, Country Garden plummeted 10.48 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical lost 0.92 percent, Hang Lung Properties declined 2.46 percent, Henderson Land sank 1.01 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas slumped 1.58 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China weakened 1.55 percent, JD.com plunged 5.94 percent, Lenovo tumbled 3.17 percent, Li Ning dropped 1.37 percent, Longfor plummeted 12.07 percent, Meituan declined 3.62 percent, New World Development tanked 5.76 percent, Techtronic Industries, Xiaomi Corporation tumbled 5.32 percent and WuXi Biologics surrendered 4.33 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is mixed to lower following a volatile Wednesday that saw the major averages bounce back and forth across the unchanged line before ending on opposite sides.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders expressed uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting.The Dow rose 1.58 points or 0.00 percent to finish at 33,597.92, while the NASDAQ sank 56.34 points or 0.51 percent to end at 10,958.55 and the S&P 500 dipped 7.34 points or 0.19 percent to close at 3,933.92.
The Fed still seems poised to slow the pace of interest rate hikes, but recent upbeat economic data has raised concerns about how much further the central bank will raise rates at future meetings.
The recent selling on Wall Street partly reflects worries the Fed will need to push the economy into a prolonged recession in order to bring inflation down close to its 2 percent target.
Crude oil prices fell sharply Wednesday, weighed down by data showing a sharp increase in gasoline inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for January ended lower by $2.24 or 3 percent at $72.01 a barrel, losing for the fourth consecutive session.