Consolidation Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in consecutive trading days, skyrocketing more than 1,600 points or 10 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 17,620-point plateau although it's likely to see consolidation of Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with oil and technology stocks expected to weigh. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the technology stocks, properties and financials.

For the day, the index jumped 294.05 points or 1.70 percent to finish at 17,619.71 after trading between 17,518.88 and 18,011.64.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group rose 0.35 percent, while Alibaba Health Info surged 15.74 percent, ANTA Sports climbed 2.59 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 3.54 percent, China Mengniu Dairy strengthened 3.23 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) perked 0.29 percent, China Resources Land soared 11.80 percent, CITIC added 0.92 percent, Country Garden skyrocketed 26.71 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical spiked 6.85 percent, Galaxy Entertainment sank 0.33 percent, Hang Lung Properties rallied 3.79 percent, Henderson Land jumped 3.68 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas advanced 2.01 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China skidded 1.07 percent, JD.com spiked 4.31 percent, Lenovo was up 0.15 percent, Li Ning improved 1.23 percent, Longfor surged 16.48 percent, Meituan tumbled 1.94 percent, New World Development soared 9.96 percent, Techtronic Industries rallied 4.31 percent, Xiaomi Corporation gained 0.78 percent, WuXi Biologics increased 1.18 percent and CNOOC was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Monday, bounced higher in the afternoon but then a late swoon sent them all into the red at the close.

The Dow dropped 211.16 points or 0.63 percent to finish at 33,536.70, while the NASDAQ slumped 127.11 points or 1.12 percent to end at 11,196.22 and the S&P 500 lost 35.68 points or 0.89 percent to close at 3,957.25.

The volatility on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following last week's rally.

The lower close on the day came despite comments from Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard that added to optimism about a slower pace of rate hikes.

Crude oil prices slumped Monday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand from China, a downward revision in demand growth forecast by OPEC and a stronger dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended lower by $3.09 or 3.5 percent at $85.87 a barrel.