Hong Kong Shares May Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Tuesday wrote a finish to the two-day losing streak in which it had tumbled almost 800 points or 4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 17,770-point plateau although it's looking at a soft start on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index advanced 132.98 points or 0.75 percent to finish at 17,773.34 after trading between 17,671.99 and 17,815.71.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group climbed 0.86 percent, while Alibaba Health Info advanced 0.83 percent, ANTA Sports rose 0.39 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.16 percent, China Mengniu Dairy soared 2.57 percent, China Resources Land added 0.67 percent, CITIC gained 0.58 percent, Country Garden jumped 1.70 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical and Meituan both increased 0.70 percent, Henderson Land improved 0.73 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas strengthened 1.25 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rallied 1.56 percent, JD.com and New World Development both spiked 2.22 percent, Lenovo surged 3.24 percent, Li Ning tumbled 1.48 percent, Techtronic Industries dropped 0.98 percent, Xiaomi Corporation skyrocketed 3.99 percent, WuXi Biologics accelerated 2.14 percent and Galaxy Entertainment, Hang Lung Properties, CNOOC and CK Infrastructure were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages open sharply lower on Tuesday but fought back into the green before finally settling mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 13.11 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 33,997,65, while the NASDAQ shed 34.24 points or 0.25 percent to close at 13,533.75 and the S&P 500 eased 0.43 points or 0.01 percent to end at 4,373.20.

The early weakness on Wall Street came after data showed bigger than expected increases in retail sales and industrial production last month, raising concerns the Federal Reserve may keep interest rates higher for longer or even announce a rate hike this year.

Higher bond yields and geopolitical concerns in the Middle East also kept investors wary.

Crude oil futures settled flat on Tuesday after a lackluster session as investors continued to track the developments on the geopolitical front and weighed the outlook for global demand and supply. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended at $86.66 a barrel, unchanged from the previous close.