Hong Kong Shares May See Additional Support On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Monday ended the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 140 points or 0.7 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 19,880-point plateau and it's called higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with technology stocks expected to lead the way higher. The European markets were flat and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the financials, properties, technology stocks and oil companies.

For the day, the index jumped 162.43 points or 0.82 percent to finish at 19,883.13 after trading between 19,746.46 and 19,937.39.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group climbed 1.12 percent, while Alibaba Health Info rallied 1.47 percent, ANTA Sports sank 0.50 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.96 percent, China Mengniu Dairy strengthened 1.25 percent, China Resources Land added 0.90 percent, CITIC accelerated 1.49 percent, CNOOC soared 2.23 percent. CSPC Pharmaceutical dipped 0.21 percent, Galaxy Entertainment eased 0.15 percent, Haier Smart Home advanced 0.93 percent, Hang Lung Properties and Xiaomi Corporation both rose 0.32 percent, Henderson Land shed 0.43 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas improved 0.82 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China surged 4.96 percent, JD.com jumped 1.60 percent, Lenovo perked 0.21 percent, Li Auto gained 0.59 percent, Li Ning slumped 1.08 percent, Meituan tumbled 1.89 percent, New World Development increased 0.77 percent, Nongfu Spring gathered 0.29 percent, Techtronic Industries dropped 0.68 percent and WuXi Biologics spiked 2.12 percent.

The lead from Wall Street positive as the major averages opened flat on Monday but all eventually tracked higher and ended in the green.

The Dow added 66.69 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 42,906.95, while the NASDAQ spiked 192.29 points or 0.98 percent to close at 19,764.88 and the S&P 600 gained 43.22 points or 0.73 percent to end at 5,974.07.

The advance by the tech-heavy NASDAQ came amid a rally by semiconductor stocks, while significant strength was also visible among computer hardware stocks.

Overall trading activity was subdued, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves amid what is likely to be a quiet week due to the Christmas Day holiday on Wednesday.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods slumped more than expected in November. Also, the Conference Board noted an unexpected deterioration by consumer confidence in December.

Oil futures settled lower Monday amid concerns about possible excess supply in the market, while a stronger dollar also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February dipped $0.26 or 0.3 percent at $69.20 a barrel.