The Hong Kong stock market has tracked higher in consecutive trading days, gathering nearly 130 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 26,485-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian is upbeat on Covid-19 vaccine optimism. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were higher and the Asian markets figure to at least open in the green, although some profit taking may occur as the session progresses.
The Hang Seng finished slightly higher on Monday as gains from the technology stocks and oil and insurance companies were capped by weakness from the properties.
For the day, the index rose 34.66 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 26,486.20 after trading between 26,369.34 and 26,662.66.
Among the actives, Xiaomi skyrocketed 8.02 percent, while CNOOC surged 4.91 percent, Alibaba soared 4.35 percent, Sands China plummeted 3.65 percent, Hang Lung Properties plunged 3.24 percent, Galaxy Entertainment tanked 3.17 percent, AIA Group tumbled 2.79 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties skidded 2.44 percent, WuXi Biologics retreated 2.28 percent, Wharf Real Estate declined 2.25 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) spiked 1.43 percent, China Resources Land surrendered 1.42 percent, China Mobile sank 0.96 percent, Power Assets dropped 0.85 percent, BOC Hong Kong shed 0.80 percent, WH Group advanced 0.76 percent, Ping An insurance added 0.68 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.66 percent, China Mengniu Dairy lost 0.61 percent, Techtronic Industries fell 0.56 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical slid 0.49 percent, AAC technologies and Henderson Land both dipped 0.48 percent, New World Development was down 0.38 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas eased 0.33 percent, China Life Insurance rose 0.23 percent and CITIC was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as stocks opened higher on Monday and remained mostly in the green throughout the day, offsetting losses from the previous session.
The Dow soared 327.79 points or 1.12 percent to finish at 29,591.27, while the NASDAQ added 25.66 points or 0.22 percent to end at 11,880.63 and the S&P 500 rose 20.05 points or 0.56 percent to close at 3,577.59.
The strength on Wall followed additional upbeat news regarding a potential Covid-19 vaccine after AstraZeneca (AZN) said its vaccine candidate being developed in collaboration with Oxford University had an average efficacy of 70 percent.
Adding to the positive sentiment, the FDA has granted an emergency use authorization for Regeneron's Covid-19 antibody treatment.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Monday on optimism that OPEC and other oil producers may extend the curb on crude production by another few months. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended up $0.64 or 1.5 percent at $43.06 a barrel.
Closer to home, Hong Kong will release October figures for imports, exports and trade later today. In September, imports were up 3.4 percent on year and exports rose an annual 9.1 percent for a trade deficit of HKD12.7 billion.
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