Hong Kong Shares May Open Under Mild Pressure On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, accelerating more than 950 points or 5.5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 17,960-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and fairly flat, with many of the regional bourses due for profit taking after big recent gains. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the technology stocks, properties and insurance companies. For the day, the index surged 302.47 points or 1.71 percent to finish at 17,966.59 after trading between 17,899.35 and 18,037.94.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group improved 2.41 percent, while Alibaba Health Info jumped 2.89 percent, ANTA Sports rose 1.47 percent, China Life Insurance rallied 2.93 percent, China Mengniu Dairy perked 0.19 percent, China Resources Land accelerated 3.60 percent, CITIC increased 2.31 percent, CNOOC tumbled 3.03 percent, Country Garden surged 5.12 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical strengthened 2.89 percent, Galaxy Entertainment climbed 2.68 percent, Hang Lung Properties advanced 2.23 percent, Henderson Land dropped 0.68 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas fell 0.18 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.52 percent, JD.com spiked 3.78 percent, Lenovo gained 1.68 percent, Li Ning sank 0.54 percent, Meituan skyrocketed 5.59 percent, New World Development was up 0.13 percent, Techtronic Industries gathered 1.14 percent, Xiaomi Corporation added 1.97 percent and WuXi Biologics soared 4.48 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests very mild upside as the major averages opened higher on Monday, slipped into the red late but managed to finish just above the unchanged line by the close.

The Dow rose 34.54 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 34,095.86, while the NASDAQ gained 40.50 points or 0.30 percent to close at 13,518.78 and the S&P 500 roe 7.64 points or 0.18 percent to end at 4,365.98.

The early strength on Wall Street came as traders continued to express optimism about the outlook for interest rates. The Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement last Wednesday combined with softer than expected jobs data last Friday has led to optimism that the central bank is done raising interest rates.

Treasuries showed a significant pullback during trading on Monday after moving sharply higher over the past few sessions. Bond prices came under pressure early in the session and saw further downside as the day progressed. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, jumped 10.4 basis points to 4.662 percent.

A late round of profit taking following recent gains sent markets briefly into the red before a mild recovery.

Oil futures settled higher on Monday after Russia and Saudi Arabia confirmed that they will extend their voluntary production and supply cuts to the end of the year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $0.31 or 0.4 percent at $80.82 a barrel.