Hong Kong Stock Market Update | Tech stocks decline in early trading, Hengtech Index drops nearly 2%, market reduces bets on major central banks making significant interest rate cuts this year.

The technology stocks on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange fell in early trading, with the Hang Seng Technology Index dropping nearly 2%. As of the time of writing, BABA-SW fell 2.48% to HKD 72.85; TENCENT fell 1.42% to HKD 292.4; and China Literature Group fell 1.24% to HKD 27.9. On the news front, global government bond markets opened cautiously in the new year as traders reduced their bets on major central banks making significant interest rate cuts this year. Traders had previously bet that the European Central Bank would cut rates by 158 basis points this year, but that expectation has decreased by about 10 basis points compared to last week. In the United States, the pricing of the money market's expectations for the Federal Reserve's accommodative policy in 2024 briefly fell below 150 basis points for the first time since December 21st of last year. According to CME's "FedWatch," the probability of the Federal Reserve maintaining interest rates in the range of 5.25% to 5.50% in February is 87.1%, while the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut is 12.9%. The probability of the Fed maintaining interest rates unchanged until March next year is 20.9%, the probability of a cumulative 25 basis point rate cut is 69.3%, and the probability of a cumulative 50 basis point rate cut is 9.8%.