Win Streak May End For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, jumping more than 400 points or 2.1 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 20,150-point plateau although it's looking at a soft start for Wednesday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower thanks to rising recession fears. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index surged 363.88 points or 1.84 percent to finish at 20,145.29 after trading between 19,303.73 and 20,212.55.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group strengthened 2.78 percent, while ANTA Sports improved 1.86 percent, China Life Insurance collected 1.94 percent, China Mengniu Dairy jumped 2.82 percent, China Resources Land rallied 2.38 percent, CITIC eased 0.12 percent, CNOOC and Meituan both rose 1.20 percent, Country Garden fell 0.31 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical added 1.46 percent, Galaxy Entertainment soared 3.88 percent, Hang Lung Properties accelerated 3.28 percent, Henderson Land gained 1.28 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas increased 1.48 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 1.00 percent, JD.com advanced 2.09 percent, Lenovo improved 1.25 percent, Li Ning climbed 2.36 percent, New World Development spiked 3.41 percent, Techtronic Industries gained 1.44 percent, Xiaomi Corporation jumped 2.56 percent, WuXi Biologics surged 4.51 percent and Alibaba Health Info was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages shook off early support on Tuesday, quickly turning lower and spending the rest of the day in the red.

The Dow shed 1088 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 33,136.37, while the NASDAQ lost 79.50 points or 0.76 percent to end at 10,386.98 and the S&P 500 fell 15.36 points or 0.40 percent to close at 3,824.14.

The early strength on Wall Street came as traders looked to get the New Year started on a positive note following a dismal 2022. For last year, the NASDAQ plummeted 33.1 percent, the S&P 500 lost 19.4 percent and the Dow sank 8.8 percent.

A report from the International Monetary Fund says about one third of the world economy will likely go into a recession this year. A rebound from treasuries also added to the negative sentiment.

A report released by the Commerce Department unexpectedly showed a modest increase in U.S. construction spending in the month of November.

Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to rising fears of a recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended down $3.33 or 4.2 percent at $76.93 a barrel, a two-week low.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will see November numbers for retail sales later today; in October, sales were up 3.9 percent on year.