Ahead of Monday's Labor Day holiday, the Hong Kong stock market had moved higher in three straight sessions, collecting more than 270 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 19,900-point plateau although investors may cash in on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian suggests little movement ahead of the FOMC's rate decision on Wednesday. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Friday as the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies ended mostly in the red.
For the day, the index rose 54.27 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 19,894.57 after trading between 19,879.07 and 20,167.88.
Among the actives, Alibaba Group gained 0.31 percent, while Alibaba Health Info slid 0.18 percent, ANTA Sports improved 0.73 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 2.04 percent, China Mengniu Dairy spiked 2.94 percent, China Resources Land advanced 0.83 percent, CITIC tumbled 1.21 percent, CNOOC soared 3.06 percent, Country Garden dropped 0.49 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical accelerated 1.92 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rallied 2.87 percent, Hang Lung Properties eased 0.14 percent, Haier Smart Home skyrocketed 7.16 percent, Henderson Land strengthened 1.82 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas lost 0.29 percent, Lenovo added 0.38 percent, Li Ning fell 0.27 percent, Meituan sank 0.75 percent, New World Development climbed 1.71 percent, Techtronic Industries surged 3.81 percent, WuXi Biologics plunged 2.00 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, JD.com and Xiaomi Corporation were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street ends up negative after the major averages spent most of Monday in positive territory before a late slide saw them finish slightly in the red.
The Dow shed 46.46 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 34,051.70, while the NASDAQ lost 13.99 points or 0.11 percent to close at 12,212.60 and the S&P 500 eased 1.61 points or 0.04 percent to end at 4,167.87.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.
While the Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points, traders will pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.
In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said manufacturing activity contracted for the sixth straight month in April. Also, the Commerce Department reported an unexpected increase in U.S construction spending in March.
Crude oil prices tumbled on Monday, weighed down by concerns about economic growth and worries about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June sank $1.12 or 1.5 percent at $75.66 a barrel.
Closer to home, Hong Kong will release preliminary Q1 numbers for gross domestic product later today; in the previous three months, GDP was flat on quarter and down 4.2 percent on year.
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