Steady Start Tipped For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 1,000 points or 4.5 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 21,970-point plateau and it may tick slightly higher on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed with a touch of upside amidst a lack of catalysts. The European markets were up slightly and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished slightly lower on Monday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies. For the day, the index eased 8.78 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 21,971.96 after trading between 21,817.85 and 22,072.35. Among the actives, Alibaba Group lost 0.35 percent, while Alibaba Health Info skidded 0.86 percent, ANTA Sports declined 1.03 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 0.71 percent, China Mengniu Dairy slumped 0.93 percent, China Resources Land plunged 2.40 percent, CITIC, Haier Smart Home and WuXi Biologics all rose 0.22 percent, CNOOC improved 0.83 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical surrendered 1.15 percent, Galaxy Entertainment retreated 1.06 percent, Hang Lung Properties perked 0.16 percent, Henderson Land gained 0.46 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas fell 0.29 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.91 percent, JD.com spiked 2.18 percent, Lenovo tumbled 1.02 percent, Li Auto jumped 1.65 percent, Li Ning sank 0.66 percent, Meituan added 0.63 percent, New World Development plummeted 2.92 percent, Nongfu Spring tanked 1.23 percent, Xiaomi Corporation shed 0.42 percent and Techtronic Industries and CKI Holdings were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests little movement as the major averages opened higher on Monday, slumped mid-session but rallied to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow advanced 114.09 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 40,227.59, while the NASDAQ eased 16.81 points or 0.10 percent to close at 17,366.13 and the S&P 500 perked 3.54 points or 0.06 percent to end at 5,528.75.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as they look ahead to the release of key earnings and economic news in the coming days.

Quarterly results are due from the likes of Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Meta Platforms (META) and Microsoft (MSFT), Coca-Cola (KO), Visa (V), Eli Lilly (LLY), Chevron (CVX) and Exxon Mobil (XOM).

The Labor Department's monthly jobs report is also likely to be in focus later this week along with the Federal Reserve's preferred readings on consumer price inflation.

Crude oil prices continued to slump on concerns over tariff threats and their likely impact on the global economy. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was down $115 or 1.82 percent to $61.87 per barrel.