Soft Start Expected For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, gathering almost 500 points or 2.5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 19,415-point plateau although it may see profit taking on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement amidst a lack of catalysts and ahead of key U.S. employment data later this week. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were closed for the Independence Day holiday and the Asian markets figure to see a steady start.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Tuesday as gains from the oil and technology stocks were tempered by weakness from the properties and financials.

For the day, the index rallied 109.09 points or 0.57 percent to finish at 19,415.68 after trading between 19,253.22 and 19,449.11.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group gained 0.54 percent, while Alibaba Health Info improved 1.67 percent, ANTA Sports strengthened 2.07 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 0.89 percent, China Mengniu Dairy soared 2.83 percent, China Resources Land rose 0.29 percent, CITIC sank 0.84 percent, CNOOC advanced 1.58 percent, Country Garden shed 0.77 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical rallied 2.65 percent, Galaxy Entertainment eased 0.19 percent, Hang Lung Properties lost 0.65 percent, Henderson Land fell 0.63 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas skidded 1.03 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China stumbled 1.18 percent, JD.com spiked 2.82 percent, Lenovo jumped 2.40 percent, Li Ning climbed 1.85 percent, Meituan added 0.95 percent, New World Development slid 0.31 percent, Techtronic Industries was up 0.17 percent, Xiaomi Corporation increased 1.28 percent and WuXi Biologics surged 3.41 percent.

There is no lead from Wall Street, although the European markets saw mild consolidation on disappointing economic data, while Canadian shares ticked slightly higher on gains from energy companies.

Traders will look to the minutes of the latest U.S. Federal Reserve meeting later today, along with the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Recent data has pointed to a resilient U.S. economy, while slowing inflation has added to optimism about the outlook for interest rates. The Fed is still widely expected to raise interest rates by a quarter point later this month, but traders are hopeful that will be end of the rate-hiking cycle.