Hong Kong Shares May Be Stuck In Neutral On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market moved lower again on Tuesday, one day after halting the four-day slide in which it had plummeted more than 1,030 points or 5.5 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 18,820-point plateau and it's likely to open slightly lower on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of the next round of economic data, and skepticism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished slightly lower on Tuesday following losses from the properties and a mixed picture from the technology companies.

For the day, the index eased 6.14 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 18,821.16 after trading between 18,776.10 and 19,000.52.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group gained 0.38 percent, while Alibaba Health Info skyrocketed 10.10 percent, ANTA Sports added 0.57 percent, China Mengniu Dairy stumbled 1.15 percent, China Resources Land fell 0.16 percent, CNOOC advanced 0.73 percent, Country Garden slumped 0.63 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical surged 2.03 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rallied 1.16 percent, Hang Lung Properties surrendered 1.61 percent, Henderson Land lost 0.20 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas skidded 0.95 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dropped 0.43 percent, JD.com sank 0.42 percent, Lenovo tumbled 1.83 percent, Li Ning shed 0.23 percent, Meituan and Techtronic Industries both rose 0.25 percent, New World Development retreated 1.21 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tanked 1.63 percent, WuXi Biologics declined 1.01 percent and China Life Insurance and CITIC were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday finished the same way.

The Dow shed 216.73 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 38,852.86, while the NASDAQ advanced 99.09 points or 0.59 percent to close at a record 17,019.88 and the S&P 500 perked 1.32 points or 0.02 percent to end at 5,306.04.

The continued advance by the NASDAQ came on a sharp increase by shares of Nvidia (NVDA), with the AI darling surging 7.1 percent to a record closing high.

Meanwhile, a steep drop by shares of Merck (MRK) weighed on the Dow, as the drug giant tumbled by 2.6 percent to its lowest closing level in well over a month.

In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board noted an unexpectedly significant improvement in consumer confidence in May.

Oil prices rose Tuesday on hopes demand for oil will pick up in the U.S. driving season, and on expectations that OPEC will extend its production cuts into the next quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $2.11 or 2.7 percent at $79.83 a barrel.