The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting almost 360 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 27,900-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the largely overbought Asian markets is negative, with profit taking expected to limit any upside. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The Hang Seng finished slightly higher on Monday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and technology stocks.
For the day, the index rose 30.00 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 27,908.22 after trading between 27,794.81 and 28,176.65.
Among the actives, China Resources Land surged 4.23 percent, while Techtronic Industries plummeted 3.41 percent, Sands China plunged 3.03 percent, Meituan tanked 2.64 percent, Galaxy Entertainment tumbled 2.42 percent, ANTA Sports skidded 2.29 percent, WuXi Biologics spiked 2.21 percent, China Mengniu Dairy retreated 1.66 percent, Ping An Insurance declined 1.62 percent, CITIC rallied 1.56 percent, Hang Lung Properties perked 1.47 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical surrendered 1.47 percent, Alibaba sank 1.43 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 1.41 percent, BOC Hong Kong shed 1.38 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) lost 0.80 percent, AAC Technologies fell 0.76 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties gained 0.75 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas slid 0.69 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.60 percent, Power Assets dipped 0.60 percent, CNOOC rose 0.56 percent, New World Development was down 0.41 percent, Xiaomi Corporation was up 0.31 percent, AIA Group eased 0.15 percent and CK Infrastructure was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as stocks opened in the red on Monday, made back a bit of ground but still ended firmly in the red.
The Dow skidded 89.28 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 31,008.69, while the NASDAQ tumbled 165.54 points or 1.25 percent to end at 13,036.43 and the S&P 500 lost 25.07 points or 0.66 percent to close at 3,799.61.
Profit taking contributed to the initial weakness on Wall Street after the major averages climbed to new record closing highs last Friday as traders cashed in on recent gains.
Concerns about developments in Washington also weighed on stocks as Democrats prepare another attempt to remove President Donald Trump from office. House Democrats are preparing to once again impeach Trump even though the president has less than two weeks left in his term.
Crude oil futures settled flat on Monday as rising coronavirus cases and tighter lockdown measures across the world raised concerns about outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled at $52.25 a barrel, up 1 cent from the previous close.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
