How High Can Hang Seng Index Go?

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in 10 straight sessions, gathering more than 2,370 points or 13.8 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 18,575-point plateau and it's looking at another firm lead for Tuesday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on renewed optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian markets are predicted to open in similar fashion. The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Monday as gains from the technology and financials shares were dented by weakness from the property stocks.

For the day, the index climbed 102.38 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 18,578.30 after trading between 18,389.54 and 18,590.17. Among the actives, Alibaba Group rose 0.38 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plunged 3.05 percent, ANTA Sports lost 0.27 percent, China Life Insurance shed 0.36 percent, China Mengniu Dairy spiked 3.46 percent, China Resources Land stumbled 1.82 percent, CITIC rallied 0.79 percent, CNOOC tanked 2.86 percent, Country Garden plummeted 4.28 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical gathered 0.30 percent, Galaxy Entertainment eased 0.13 percent, Hang Lung Properties slumped 1.66 percent, Henderson Land fell 0.21 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas jumped 1.82 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.23 percent, JD.com gained 0.39 percent, Lenovo added 0.44 percent, Li Ning tumbled 2.73 percent, Meituan advanced 0.50 percent, New World Development retreated 2.00 percent, Techtronic Industries soared 3.60 percent, Xiaomi Corporation sank 0.44 percent and WuXi Biologics surged 6.45 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday and remained firmly in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow advanced 176.59 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 38,852.27, while the NASDAQ rallied 192.92 points or 1.19 percent to close at 16,349.25 and the S&P 500 improved 52.95 points or 1.03 percent to end at 5,180.74.

Stocks continued to benefit from the upward momentum seen over the two previous sessions, which partly reflected renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

Relatively dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell combined with weaker-than-expected job growth in April have largely eliminated short-lived concerns the Fed might actually consider raising rates.

Investors have instead grown increasingly confident about a rate cut in the coming months, with the chances rates will be lower by September now at 83.5 percent, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

Crude oil futures settled modestly higher on Monday following Saudi Arabia's decision to hike its selling price for the European and Asian markets. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.37 or 0.47 percent at $78.48 a barrel.