Hong Kong Shares Overdue For Consolidation On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in six straight sessions, gathering almost 1,570 points or 9.2 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 17,750-point plateau and it's expected to at least open higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to slightly higher ahead of Wednesday's FOMC policy announcement. The European markets were soft and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher again on Monday following gains from the financials and properties, while the technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index gained 95.76 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 17,746.81 after trading between 17,679.19 and 18,031.16.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group slumped 1.26 percent, while Alibaba Health Info rallied 2.71 percent, ANTA Sports dropped 0.72 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 2.33 percent, China Mengniu Dairy and Galaxy Entertainment both strengthened 1.12 percent, China Resources Land accelerated 2.88 percent, CITIC climbed 1.07 percent, CNOOC added 0.41 percent, Country Garden skyrocketed 11.00 percent, Hang Lung Properties soared 3.45 percent, Henderson Land advanced 0.42 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas perked 0.17 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 1.20 percent, JD.com rose 0.25 percent, Lenovo fell 0.33 percent, Li Ning stumbled 0.95 percent, Meituan plunged 3.63 percent, New World Development spiked 3.44 percent, Techtronic Industries tanked 3.13 percent, Xiaomi Corporation gained 0.35 percent, WuXi Biologics surged 3.56 percent and CSPC Pharmaceutical and CLP Holdings were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened higher on Monday and stayed mostly in the green, ending slightly higher.

The Dow jumped 146.43 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 38,386.09, while the NASDAQ advanced 55.18 points or 0.35 percent to close at 15,983.08 and the S&P 500 added 16.21 points or 0.32 percent to end at 5,116.17.

The modestly higher close on Wall Street came as stocks continue to benefit from the upward momentum seen last week, which came amid a positive reaction to upbeat tech earnings.

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

The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but the accompanying statement and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting press conference may shed additional light on the outlook for rates.

Oil futures settled lower on Monday amid worries about growth and outlook for oil demand and the rising possibility of the Federal Reserve delaying interest rate cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended down by $1.22 or 1.45 percent at $82.63 a barrel.