Hong Kong Shares May Take Further Damage On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Monday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 325 points or 1.3 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 25,760-point plateau and it's expected to open to the downside again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of the FOMC meeting later this week. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were soft and the Asian markets figure to split the difference. The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies. For the day, the index stumbled 319.72 points or 1.23 percent to finish at 25,765.36 after trading between 25,755.01 and 26,151.46. Among the actives, Alibaba Group declined 1.03 percent, while Alibaba Health Info skidded 0.92 percent, ANTA Sports cratered 2.69 percent, China Life Insurance fell 0.57 percent, China Mengniu Dairy dropped 0.82 percent, China Resources Land tumbled 1.55 percent, CITIC lost 0.65 percent, CNOOC tanked 2.26 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical plunged 2.85 percent, Galaxy Entertainment added 0.70 percent, Haier Smart Home stumbled 1.77 percent, Hang Lung Properties retreated 1.44 percent, Henderson Land retreated 1.71 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas slumped 0.97 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China plummeted 3.48 percent, JD.com shed 0.68 percent, Lenovo sank 0.80 percent, Li Auto was down 0.36 percent, Li Ning and Xiaomi Corporation both slipped 0.47 percent, Meituan gained 0.45 percent, New World Development climbed 1.13 percent, Nongfu Spring surrendered 2.12 percent, Techtronic Industries crashed 2.29 percent and WuXi Biologics advanced 0.98 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed but quickly headed south and spent the balance of the session well under water.

The Dow dropped 215.67 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 47,739.32, while the NASDAQ sank 32.22 points or 0.14 percent to close at 23,545.90 and the S&P 500 fell 23.89 points or 0.35 percent to end at 6,846.51.

The modest pullback on Wall Street reflected profit taking following recent strength in the markets, which saw the NASDAQ and S&P 500 reach their best closing levels in a month last Friday.

Overall trading activity was somewhat subdued, however, as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision on Wednesday.

With the Fed widely expected to lower interest rates by another quarter point, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the likelihood of further rate cuts next year.

Crude oil prices slumped on Monday as the U.S. dollar strengthened ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, which has largely been priced in. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $1.28 or 2.13 percent at $58.80 per barrel.