Hong Kong Stock Market Has Flat Lead For Tuesday's Trade

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Monday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 510 points or 2.5 percent. The Hang Seng now rests just beneath the 20,050-point plateau and it's likely to be rangebound in that area on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to slightly higher, with easing recession fears offset by interest rate concerns. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Monday as losses from the technology and property stocks were offset by support from the oil companies.

For the day, the index dropped 156.17 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 20,045.77 after trading between 19,954.04 and 20,171.89.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group plummeted 4.41 percent, while Alibaba Health Info dipped 0.21 percent, ANTA Sports retreated 2.68 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.17 percent, China Mengniu Dairy climbed 1.29 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) jumped 1.40 percent, China Resources Land lost 0.32 percent, CITIC and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China both rose 0.24 percent, CNOOC advanced 1.26 percent, Country Garden plunged 3.81 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical sank 0.70 percent, Galaxy Entertainment dropped 0.74 percent, Hang Lung Properties skidded 1.31 percent, Henderson Land weakened 1.07 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas added 0.49 percent, JD.com tumbled 3.26 percent, Lenovo shed 0.42 percent, Li Ning declined 2.83 percent, Longfor surrendered 2.94 percent, Meituan slumped 2.13 percent, New World Development gained 0.38 percent, Techtronic Industries stumbled 1.38 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tanked 3.60 percent and WuXi Biologics fell 0.27 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages were unable to hold solid early gains, eventually hugging the line and finishing mixed.

The Dow rose 29.07 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 32,832.54, while the NASDAQ dipped 13.10 points or 0.10 percent to end at 12,644.46 and the S&P 500 eased 5.13 points or 0.12 percent to close at 4,140.06.

The early strength on Wall Street extended a recent upward trend; easing concerns about a potential recession may have contributed to the continued upward move following last week's much stronger than expected jobs data.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as the strong jobs data has increased the likelihood of another 75-basis point interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve next month.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant bets ahead of the release of closely watched U.S. inflation data later this week.

Crude oil prices recovered after early losses and settled sharply higher on Monday as data showed a significant increase in oil purchases by China so far this month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $1.75 or 2 percent at $90.76 a barrel.