Hong Kong Shares Due For Consolidation On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, advancing almost 400 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 24,900-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on renewed tariff concerns. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial hares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index jumped 169.08 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 24,902.53 after trading between 24,686.85 and 24,925.90.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group dipped 0.17 percent, while Alibaba Health Info rallied 1.63 percent, ANTA Sports expanded 1.26 percent, China Life Insurance spiked 2.79 percent, China Mengniu Dairy increased 0.61 percent, China Resources Land gained 0.35 percent, CITIC advanced 1.19 percent, CNOOC added 0.48 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical surged 3.52 percent, Galaxy Entertainment soared 3.51 percent, Haier Smart Home improved 1.07 percent, Hang Lung Properties perked 0.12 percent, Henderson Land gathered 0.14 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rose 0.29 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China jumped 1.65 percent, Lenovo skyrocketed 5.09 percent, Li Auto strengthened 1.58 percent, Li Ning climbed 1.22 percent, Meituan eased 0.08 percent, New World Development slumped 1.37 percent, Nongfu Spring collected 0.53 percent, Techtronic Industries fell 0.37 percent, Xiaomi Corporation sank 0.46 percent, WuXi Biologics accelerated 2.05 percent and JD.com and Hengan International were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened slightly higher on Tuesday but quickly turned lower and spent the balance of the day in the red, closing near session lows.

The Dow slipped 61.90 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 44,111.74, while the NASDAQ sank 137.03 points or 0.65 percent to end at 20,916.55 and the S&P 500 dropped 30.75 points or 0.49 percent to close at 6,299.19.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street reflected ongoing trade concerns after President Donald Trump said he will be announcing new tariffs on semiconductors and chips as soon as next week. Trump said planned tariffs on pharmaceuticals imported into the U.S. could reach as high as 250 percent.

Negative sentiment was also have been generated by a report from the Institute for Supply Management that unexpectedly showed a modest slowdown in the pace of growth by U.S. service sector activity in the month of July.

Early in the session, stocks benefitted from a positive reaction to some of the latest earnings news, including upbeat quarterly results from software company Palantir (PLTR).

Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday amid US pressure on India to stop buying oil from Russia, as well as OPEC's recent decision to boost production. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery slumped $1.05 or 1.58 percent to $65.24 per barrel.