Thursday February 4, 11:58 pm Eastern Time
(Note: this article is ''in progress''; there will likely be an update soon.)
HK stocks end morning sharply down, hit by Wall St
HONG KONG, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks ended the morning sharply lower on Friday, hurt by weak sentiment on Wall Street where investors were concerned about a shifting in Federal Reserve policy towards higher interest rates, brokers said.
''Probably sentiment in the U.S. has turned bearish in the short term and that affects Hong Kong,'' said Alex Wong, research manager at OSK Asia Securities. ''People feel that if economic data continues to be strong, the Fed might raise interest rates.''
The Hang Seng Index closed the morning down 244.96 points or 2.60 percent at 9,193.69. In the broader market, declines outpaced advances 320 to 83.
Overnight, the Dow industrials fell 62.31 points or 0.67 percent to 9,304.50.
Weak S&P 500 futures had triggered selling in Hong Kong, said Ricky Tam, senior research manager at Delta Asia Securities.
''In the next few weeks I expect the U.S. market to see some downside pressure,'' said Tam. Investors were reluctant to hold onto shares in the local market over the Chinese New Year holiday in mid-February while the U.S. market would be open, he said.
''A lot of people are preparing for the market to go down,'' said Tam. ''Open interest in the futures has been increasing. A lot of people are accumulating short positions.''
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