Higher Open Predicted For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in three straight session, sinking more than 400 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 18,030-point plateau although it's likely to halt its slide on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed, with continued profit taking among technology stocks likely to cap any upside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished barely lower on Monday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index eased 0.81 points or 0.00 percent to finish at 18,027.71 after trading between 17,789.57 and 18,032.67.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group perked 0.07 percent, while Alibaba Health Info tumbled 1.43 percent, ANTA Sports strengthened 1.09 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.35 percent, China Mengniu Dairy rallied 1.37 percent, China Resources Land declined 0.74 percent, CITIC gained 0.53 percent, CNOOC and Xiaomi Corporation both retreated 0.88 percent, Country Garden plunged 1.98 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical dropped 0.47 percent, Galaxy Entertainment tanked 1.96 percent, Hang Lung Properties sank 0.15 percent, Henderson Land jumped 1.42 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas spiked 1.74 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China climbed 0.88 percent, JD.com added 0.55 percent, Lenovo plummeted 2.68 percent, Li Ning soared 1.83 percent, Meituan slumped 0.69 percent, New World Development rose 0.41 percent, Techtronic Industries advanced 0.76 percent, WuXi Biologics surged 2.07 percent and Nongfu Spring was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be a dichotomy as the major averages opened mixed and finished the same way, with only the Dow finishing in the green.

The Dow rallied 260.88 points or 0.67 percent to finish at 39,411.21, while the NASDAQ tumbled 192.54 points or 1.09 percent to close at 17,496.82 and the S&P 500 fell 16.75 points or 0.31 percent to end at 5,447.87.

The weakness on Wall Street came as technology stocks dragged the markets lower, with Nvidia Corporation, Dell Technologies and QualComm all plummeting on profit taking.

Traders also were looking ahead to Friday's Commerce Department's report on personal income and spending in May, which includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve.

Oil prices gained Monday on optimism about the outlook for demand and likely supply disruptions due to tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August rose $0.90 or 1.1 percent at $81.63 a barrel.