No Help Yet For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking almost 400 points or 2.5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 16,475-point plateau and it may extend its losing streak on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, although losses from the technology stocks may be mitigated by support from the oil companies. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference. The Hang Seng finished slightly lower on Monday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies. For the day, the index lost 25.83 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 16,473.64 after trading between 16,441.30 and 16,612.64.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group skidded 0.99 percent, while Alibaba Health Info tumbled 2.74 percent, ANTA Sports spiked 1.89 percent, China Life Insurance plunged 4.02 percent, China Mengniu Dairy sank 0.61 percent, China Resources Land gained 0.21 percent, CITIC shed 0.38 percent, CNOOC jumped 1.69 percent, Country Garden rallied 1.67 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical retreated 1.40 percent, Galaxy Entertainment dropped 0.75 percent, Hang Lung Properties slumped 1.09 percent, Henderson Land tanked 3.40 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas strengthened 1.45 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 0.25 percent, JD.com lost 0.29 percent, Lenovo plummeted 8.63 percent, Li Ning declined 1.22 percent, Meituan soared 5.72 percent, New World Development added 0.47 percent, Techtronic Industries advanced 0.77 percent, Xiaomi Corporation rose 0.14 percent and WuXi Biologics surged 7.52 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened in the red on Monday and largely remained under water throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 162.26 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 39,313.64, while the NASDAQ sank 44.35 points or 0.27 percent to close at 16,384.47 and the S&P 500 fell 15.99 points or 0.31 percent to end at 5,218.19.

Weakness among technology stocks weighed on the markets, with semiconductor giant Intel (INTC) plunging by as much as 4.7 percent after reports suggested that China has introduced new guidelines to phase microprocessors from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) out of government PCs and servers.

Selling pressure remained relatively subdued, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of some key economic data in the coming days, including key inflation numbers on Friday.

In economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing new home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly decreased in February.

Oil prices moved higher on Monday amid concerns about supply disruptions after Ukraine continued to attack Russian refineries. A weak dollar amid expectations of interest rate cuts by central banks contributed as well to the rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.32 or 1.64 percent at $81.95 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will release February numbers for imports, exports and trade balance. In January, imports jumped 21.7 percent on month and exports surged 33.6 percent for a trade surplus of HKD3.6 billion.