Higher Open Called For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had rallied almost 500 points or 2.2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 23,380-point plateau and it has a solid lead again for Wednesday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on easing tariff and trade war concerns. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the technology stocks and insurance companies, while the property sector was mixed.

For the day, the index improved 99.66 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 23,381.99 after trading between 23,167.56 and 23,419.55.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group climbed 0.94 percent, while Alibaba Health Info jumped 2.50 percent, ANTA Sports and China Life Insurance both rallied 1.55 percent, China Mengniu Dairy retreated 1.57 percent, China Resources Land gained 0.40 percent, CITIC dipped 0.10 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical surged 5.83 percent, Galaxy Entertainment soared 2.64 percent, Haier Smart Home stumbled 2.35 percent, Hang Lung Properties rose 0.16 percent, Henderson Land increased 0.41 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas perked 0.14 percent, JD.com declined 1.00 percent, Lenovo improved 0.43 percent, Li Auto accelerated 1.64 percent, Li Ning advanced 0.66 percent, Meituan strengthened 2.09 percent, New World Development slumped 0.87 percent, Nongfu Spring was up 0.13 percent, Techtronic Industries tumbled 1.71 percent, Xiaomi Corporation added 0.49 percent, WuXi Biologics spiked 2.60 percent and CNOOC, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Hengan International were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened in the green and continued to accelerate as the day progressed.

The Dow spiked 740.58 points or 1.78 percent to finish at 42,343.65, while the NASDAQ surged 461.96 points or 2.47 percent to close at 19,199.16 and the S&P 500 jumped 118.72 points or 2.05 percent to end at 5,921.54.

The rally on Wall Street came after President Donald Trump announced he is delaying a threatened 50 percent tariff on imports from the European Union.

The move by Trump came as analysts previously suggested the threatened tariff on the EU was just a negotiating tactic and not where the eventual rate will wind up.

Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to a report released by the Conference Board showing a substantial improvement by U.S. consumer confidence in the month of May.

Crude oil prices slumped on Tuesday on continuing concerns that OPEC may boost output at its meeting later today. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery dropped 0.65 or 1 percent to $64.09 per barrel.