Rally May Stall For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, gathering more than 80 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 16,600-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild consolidation ahead of key data later this week that could affect the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished barely higher on Monday as gains from the technology stocks were offset by weakness from the property sector.

For the day, the index rose 6.53 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 16,595.97 after trading between 16,473.65 and 16,645.96.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group slumped 1.30 percent, while Alibaba Health Info jumped 1.73 percent, ANTA Sports lost 0.33 percent, China Life Insurance retreated 2.28 percent, China Mengniu Dairy stumbled 2.34 percent, China Resources Land plummeted 5.45 percent, CITIC eased 0.13 percent, CNOOC rallied 3.34 percent, Country Garden surrendered 3,85 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical declined 2.13 percent, Galaxy Entertainment tanked 4.17 percent, Hang Lung Properties sank 0.35 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas added 066 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dropped 0.74 percent, JD.com skidded 1.16 percent, Lenovo soared 7.15 percent, Li Ning tumbled 2.64 percent, Meituan spiked 3.51 percent, New World Development plunged 4.67 percent, Techtronic Industries surged 9.57 percent, Xiaomi Corporation and CLP Holdings both rose 0.15 percent and WuXi Biologics skyrocketed 11.70 percent Henderson Land was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Monday, rallied in the afternoon but sank back into the red by the close.

The Dow dropped 97.55 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 38,989.83, while the NASDAQ sank 67.43 points or 0.41 percent to close at 16,207.51 and the S&P 500 eased 6.13 points or 0.12 percent to close at 5,130.95.

The weakness on Wall Street was the result of caution on the part of investors, with several significant data points on tap for the coming days.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's congressional testimony will be in focus for clues about the outlook for interest rates. Powell is due to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday and the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.

Then on Friday is the Labor Department's highly anticipated employment report for February, which also could affect the outlook for interest rates.

Oil futures ended lower on Monday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand after OPEC extended its output cuts to the end of the second quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $1.23 or 1.5 percent at 78.74 a barrel.