Hang Seng Tipped To Halt Its Slide On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished lower in six straight sessions, retreating almost 900 points or 4.7 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 18,870-point plateau although it's expected to find some traction on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with support from the oil companies likely offset by weakness from the technology shares. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference. The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies. For the day, the index retreated 190.15 points or 1.00 percent to finish at 18,874.14 after trading between 18,671.49 and 18,929.12. Among the actives, Alibaba Group tumbled 1.88 percent, while Alibaba Health Info surged 2.85 percent, ANTA Sports was down 0.13 percent, China Life Insurance and Techtronic Industries both lost 0.76 percent, China Mengniu Dairy shed 0.92 percent, China Resources Land spiked 2.09 percent, CITIC added 0.24 percent, CNOOC soared 2.23 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical slid 0.46 percent, Galaxy Entertainment surrendered 2.29 percent, Haier Smart Home plummeted 6.83 percent, Hang Lung Properties declined 1.83 percent, Henderson Land slumped 1.79 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas skidded 1.50 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 0.41 percent, JD.com dropped 1.45 percent, Lenovo fell 0.75 percent, Li Auto tanked 3.01 percent, Li Ning sank 1.08 percent, Meituan retreated 1.93 percent, New World Development plunged 5.18 percent, Nongfu Spring rallied 2.14 percent, Xiaomi Corporation stumbled 2.24 percent and WuXi Biologics weakened 1.74 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed to higher as the major averages opened on opposite sides of the unchanged line on Monday and finished in the same manner.

The Dow rallied 359.95 points or 0.86 percent to finish at 42,298.40, while the NASDAQ slumped 74.01 points or 0.39 percent to close at 19,087.62 and the S&P 500 rose 8.27 points or 0.14 percent to end at 5,835.31.

Weakness in the tech sector weighed on Wall Street early in the session, as AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) plunged by as much as 4.7 percent.

Ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates also generated negative sentiment following last Friday's stronger-than-expected monthly jobs report.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the trading session, however, leading some traders to pick up stocks at reduced levels as the S&P 500 rebounded from its lowest intraday level in over two months.

Oil prices rose sharply to a five-month high on Monday amid potential supply risks after the U.S. imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia's oil exports, while a stronger dollar also weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed up $2.25 or nearly 3 percent at $78.82 a barrel.