Hong Kong Shares Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, stumbling more than 385 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 17,525-point plateau and it's expected to open lower again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower, ahead of key data and an OPEC meeting later this week. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Monday as losses from the property sector were mitigated by support from the technology companies.

For the day, the index lost 34.36 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 17,525.06 after trading between 17,358.24 and 17,677.52.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group and CITIC both fell 0.13 percent, while Alibaba Health Info jumped 1.75 percent, ANTA Sports added 0.31 percent, China Life Insurance tumbled 1.97 percent, China Mengniu Dairy dropped 0.78 percent, China Resources Land declined 1.32 percent, CNOOC advanced 0.47 percent, Country Garden plunged 3.71 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical slumped 1.01 percent, Galaxy Entertainment skidded 0.81 percent, Hang Lung Properties surrendered 1.59 percent, Henderson Land retreated 1.12 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas lost 0.18 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.26 percent, JD.com gained 0.18 percent, Lenovo soared 2.10 percent, Li Ning tanked 2.63 percent, Meituan sank 0.46 percent, New World Development plummeted 6.37 percent, Techtronic Industries spiked 1.98 percent, Xiaomi Corporation rallied 0.93 percent and WuXi Biologics surged 2.56 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Monday, improved midday but then stumbled into the close.

The Dow dropped 56.68 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 35,333.47, while the NASDAQ eased 9.83 points or 0.07 percent to close at 14,241.02 and the S&P 500 fell 8.91 points or 0.20 percent to end at 4,550.43.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of some key economic data in the coming days.

Traders also were looking for additional clues about the outlook for interest rates, with optimism the Fed is done raising rates contributing to recent strength on Wall Street.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said new home sales in U.S. pulled back sharply in October after surging in September.

Crude Oil prices fell on Monday with traders speculating on the likely outcome of Thursday's OPEC meeting to discuss production cuts. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for January fell $0.68 or 0.9 percent at $74.86 a barrel.