Hong Kong Shares May See Mild Upside On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting more than 170 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 20,600-point plateau and figures to be rangebound again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat amidst a lack of catalysts. The European and U.S. bourses were little changed and the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished slightly higher on Monday as gains from the oil and property stocks were capped by profit taking among the technology companies.

For the day, the index gains 35.65 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 20,603.19 after trading between 20,410.00 and 20,702.75.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group lost 0.85 percent, while Alibaba Health Info slumped 1.65 percent, ANTA Sports retreated 1.89 percent, China Life Insurance was down 0.72 percent, China Mengniu Dairy improved 0.57 percent, China Resources Land perked 0.27 percent, CITIC rallied 2.36 percent, CNOOC surged 3.45 percent, Country Garden tumbled 2.74 percent, Galaxy Entertainment spiked 2.55 percent, Hang Lung Properties jumped 1.55 percent, Henderson Land gained 0.36 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rose 0.28 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.73 percent, JD.com climbed 1.41 percent, Lenovo soared 3.01 percent, Li Ning skidded 1.00 percent, Meituan added 0.42 percent, New World Development was up 0.23 percent, Techtronic Industries advanced 0.96 percent, Xiaomi Corporation dropped 0.95 percent, WuXi Biologics sank 0.87 percent and CSPC Pharmaceutical was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Monday but faded badly in the afternoon, finishing mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 40.47 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 33,431.44, while the NASDAQ dipped 13.27 points or 0.11 percent to close at 11,675.74 and the S&P 500 perked 2.78 points or 0.07 percent to end at 4,048.42.

The early strength on Wall Street came as treasury yields moved notably lower amid optimism that the Federal Reserve is close to finishing its aggressive interest rate hikes.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as treasury yields rebounded ahead of congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell - who is due to testify before the Senate Banking Committee later today and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.

The Labor Department's closely watched monthly employment report is also likely to attract attention later in the week.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Monday after Saudi Arabia signaled that it sees oil demand picking up in Asia and Europe by raising most prices for crude shipments to the regions. West Texas International Crude oil futures for April advanced $0.78 or 1 percent at $80.46 a barrel.