Hong Kong Stock Market May Crack Resistance At 24,000 Points

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Monday ended the two-day losing streak in which it has tumbled almost 1,100 points or 4.5 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 23,900-point plateau and it's tipped to open higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with support expected from the technology stocks and oil companies. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Monday as the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies were mostly higher.

For the day, the index jumped 215.84 points or 0.91 percent to finish at 23,905.56 after trading between 23,531.20 and 23,967.51.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group strengthened 1.61 percent, while Alibaba Health Info gained 0.20 percent, ANTA Sports perked 0.06 percent, China Life Insurance improved 1.51 percent, China Mengniu Dairy fell 0.21 percent, China Resources Land jumped 1.75 percent, CNOOC added 0.22 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical stumbled 1.86 percent, ENN Energy advanced 1.54 percent, Galaxy Entertainment slumped 0.76 percent, Haier Smart Home surged 6.02 percent, Hang Lung Properties dipped 0.15 percent, Henderson Land retreated 1.33 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas increased 0.91 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China accelerated 1.80 percent, JD.com rallied 2.27 percent, Lenovo climbed 1.59 percent, Li Auto spiked 3.85 percent, Li Ning tumbled 2.07 percent, Meituan declined 1.13 percent, New World Development skidded 1.08 percent, Nongfu Spring shed 0.27 percent, Techtronic Industries eased 0.05 percent, Xiaomi Corporation soared 4.20 percent and WuXi Biologics, CITIC and CLP Holdings were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday and remained in the green throughout the day, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 597.97 points or 1.42 percent to finish at 42,583.32, while the NASDAQ rallied 404.54 points or 2.27 percent to close at 18,188.59 and the S&P 500 gained 100.01 points or 1.76 percent to end at 5,767.57.

The support on Wall Street came on reports that President Donald Trump may hold back some of the reciprocal tariffs set to take effect on April 2.

Semiconductor and networking stocks had a very good outing. Shares from steel, banking, retail and airline sectors too closed mostly higher.

Oil prices climbed higher on Monday after Trump announced a 25 percent secondary tariff on countries purchasing oil or gas from Venezuela. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May settled higher by $0.83 or 1.22 percent at $69.11 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will see February data for imports, exports and trade balance later today; in January, imports were up 0.5 percent on month and exports rose 0.1 percent for a trade surplus of HKD2.1 billion.