Higher Open Predicted For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, sinking almost 460 points or 2 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 23,120-point plateau although it may find support on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, with bargain hunting likely on the menu after heavy selling in the previous sessions. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the property stocks, pharmaceuticals and technology companies.

For the day, the index slumped 307.02 points or 1.31 percent to finish at 23,119.58 after trading between 23,002.81 and 23,399.73.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group skidded 2.29 percent, while Alibaba Health Info sank 1.88 percent, ANTA Sports tumbled 3.28 percent, China Life Insurance lost 1.57 percent, China Mengniu Dairy fell 1.13 percent, China Resources Land climbed 0.98 percent, CITIC jumped 1.37 percent, CNOOC rose 0.33 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical slumped 2.37 percent, Galaxy Entertainment stumbled 3.34 percent, Haier Smart Home rallied 1.21 percent, Hang Lung Properties added 0.61 percent, Henderson Land dipped 0.22 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.91 percent, JD.com dropped 2.19 percent, Lenovo surrendered 3.50 percent, Li Auto slid 0.55 percent, Li Ning plummeted 7.23 percent, Meituan retreated 2.69 percent, New World Development plunged 4.46 percent, Nongfu Spring declined 2.60 percent, Techtronic Industries shed 1.79 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tanked 3.62 percent, WuXi Biologics advanced 0.93 percent and Hong Kong & China Gas and ENN Energy Holdings were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened lower on Monday but tracked higher throughout the session to finish mixed.

The Dow jumped 417.86 points or 1.00 percent to finish at 42,001.76, the NASDAQ dipped 23.70 points or 0.14 percent to close at 17,299.29 and the S&P 500 added 30.91 points or 0.55 percent to end at 5,611.85.

The early weakness on Wall Street came amid ongoing concerns about the impact of President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trade partners, which are set to begin Wednesday

Traders worry Trump's tariffs and possible retaliatory actions by targeted countries will fuel inflation, keep interest rates elevated and drag down global economic growth.

On the U.S. economic front, MNI Indicators released a report showing an unexpected increase by its reading on Chicago-area business activity in the month of March.

Crude oil prices ticked higher on Monday on concerns that supply may not be able to keep up with demand. West Texas Intermediate for May delivery was up $0.17 or 0.25 percent to $69.53 per barrel.