Additional Support Tipped For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Tuesday ended the six-day losing streak in which it had tumbled almost 900 points or 4.7 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 19,220-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky on conflicting signals about the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Tuesday following bargain hunting among the financial shares, oil companies, properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index rallied 345.64 points or 1.83 percent to finish at 19,219.78 after trading between 18,901.56 and 19,318.36.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group and Hang Lung Properties both climbed 2.37 percent, while Alibaba Health Info jumped 2.77 percent, ANTA Sports gathered 0.64 percent, China Life Insurance improved 2.15 percent, China Mengniu Dairy picked up 0.26 percent, China Resources Land moved 0.23 percent higher, CITIC gained 1.08 percent, CNOOC added 1.25 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical perked 0.46 percent, Galaxy Entertainment increased 1.56 percent, Haier Smart Home strengthened 2.44 percent, Henderson Land tumbled 1.37 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rose 0.85 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.62 percent, JD.com surged 5.35 percent, Lenovo was up 0.11 percent, Li Auto accelerated 3.35 percent, Li Ning advanced 2.32 percent, Meituan soared 5.02 percent, New World Development sank 0.71 percent, Nongfu Spring skyrocketed 5.38 percent, Techtronic Industries lost 0.46 percent, Xiaomi Corporation rallied 2.90 percent and WuXi Biologics spiked 4.14 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday but quickly faded and then hugged the line before ending mixed.

The Dow advanced 221.16 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 42,518.28, while the NASDAQ slumped 43.71 points or 0.23 percent to close at 19.044.39 and the S&P 500 rose 6.69 points or 0.11 percent to end at 5,842.91.

The initial strength on Wall Street came following the release of a Labor Department report showing producer prices rose by slightly less than expected in the month of December.

The smaller than expected monthly increase by producer prices helped ease recent concerns about the outlook for inflation and interest rates, although the faster annual growth kept buying interest somewhat subdued.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of a more closely watched report on consumer price inflation later today.

Oil prices came off five-month highs on Tuesday as investors shifted their focus on the possible impact of Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on imports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed lower by $1.32 or about 1.67 percent at $77.50 a barrel.