Mild Upside Seen For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Tuesday ended the three-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 400 points or 2.2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 18,070-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is a mixed bag, with weakness among the financials and oil companies likely countered by support from the technology shares. 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 modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial hares and mixed performances from the properties and technology companies.

For the day, the index collected 45.19 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 18,072.90 after trading between 17,959.07 and 18,231.46.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group climbed 0.83 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plummeted 3.77 percent, ANTA Sports eased 0.06 percent, China Life Insurance dipped 0.18 percent, China Mengniu Dairy surged 4.50 percent, China Resources Land soared 1.87 percent, CITIC gathered 0.53 percent, CNOOC added 0.67 percent, Country Garden jumped 1.41 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical gained 0.63 percent, Galaxy Entertainment slumped 0.80 percent, Hang Lung Properties spiked 1.51 percent, Henderson Land and CK Infrastructure both retreated 0.93 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas sank 0.34 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.44 percent, JD.com dropped 0.64 percent, Lenovo plunged 3.09 percent, Li Ning advanced 0.79 percent, Meituan rallied 1.21 percent, New World Development was up 0.14 percent, Techtronic Industries rose 0.54 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tumbled 1.33 percent and WuXi Biologics perked 0.34 percent.

The lead from Wall Street remains divergent as the major averages opened mixed and finished the same way.

The Dow tumbled 299.05 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 39,112.16, while the NASDAQ rallied 220.84 points or 1.26 percent to close at 17,717.65 and the S&P 500 gained 21.43 points or 0.39 percent to end at 5,469.30.

The session-long strength in the tech-heavy NASDAQ was fueled by a rebound of Nvidia stocks after recent losses. Meta Platforms, Alphabet, Apple Inc., Eli Lilly, Micron Technology also posted strong gains.

Boeing, Nike, Goldman Sachs, IBM, Pfizer, McDonalds Corporation, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Home Depot and Johnson & Johnson declined sharply, weighing on the Dow.

In economic news, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index, which measures overall economic activity and inflationary pressure, rose in May for the first time in three months. Also, the Conference Board said consumer confidence in the U.S. eased slightly in June.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday as traders booked some profits ahead of crucial U.S. inflation data due later in the week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down by $0.80 or nearly 1 percent at $80.83 a barrel.