Hong Kong Bourse May Be Stuck In Neutral On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 100 points or 0.6 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 16,790-point plateau although it may hand back some of those gains on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky and flat ahead of key economic data later this week. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Tuesday as gains from the technology stocks and financial shares were capped by weakness from the property sector.

For the day, the index advanced 156.06 points or 0.94 percent to finish at 16,790.80 after trading between 16,453.50 and 16,828.67.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group accelerated 1.82 percent, while Alibaba Health Info climbed 0.85 percent, ANTA Sports strengthened 0.97 percent, China Life Insurance sank 0.40 percent, China Mengniu Dairy plummeted 3.57 percent, China Resources Land retreated 1.74 percent, CITIC gathered 0.12 percent, CNOOC eased 0.12 percent, Country Garden dropped 0.79 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical rallied 1.27 percent, ENN Energy fell 0.15 percent, Galaxy Entertainment declined 1.37 percent, Hang Lung Properties slumped 0.82 percent, Henderson Land added 0.68 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas gained 0.66 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.49 percent, JD.com and WuXi Biologics both advanced 0.75 percent, Lenovo and CK Infrastructure both perked 0.11 percent, Li Ning spiked 2.49 percent, Meituan rose 0.62 percent, New World Development soared 2.51 percent, Techtronic Industries tumbled 1.90 percent, Xiaomi Corporation surged 2.90 percent and Haier Smart Home was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday and ended little changed and on opposite sides of the line.

The Dow slumped 96.82 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 38,972.41, while the NASDAQ added 59.05 points or 0.37 percent to close at 16,035.30 and the S&P 500 rose 8.65 points or 0.17 percent to end at 5,078.18.

Traders stuck to the sidelines ahead of the release of some key economic data later this week, including a closely watched inflation reading.

The inflation data could have a notable impact on the outlook for interest rates, as Fed officials have said they need greater confidence inflation is slowing before cutting rates.

In economic news, the Commerce Department noted a substantial decrease in new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in January. Also, the Conference Board released a report showing an unexpected deterioration in U.S. consumer confidence in February.

Oil prices moved higher Tuesday on supply concerns due to the disruptions in the Red Sea route and amid uncertainty about a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $1.29 or 1.66 percent at $78.87 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide Q4 data for gross domestic product later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.5 percent on quarter and 4.3 percent on year. That's up from 0.1 percent on quarter and 4.1 percent on year in the third quarter.