Hong Kong Shares Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - Ahead of the Lunar New Year break, the Hong Kong stock market had tracked higher in three straight sessions, advancing almost 525 points or 2.6 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 20,225-point plateau although it may see profit taking on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over U.S. tariffs that were put in place over the weekend. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished slightly higher on Tuesday as gains from the technology stocks were offset by weakness from the properties and financials.

For the day, the index added 27.31 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 20,225.11 after trading between 20,165.73 and 20,337.46.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group climbed 1.20 percent, while Alibaba Health Info surged 4.34 percent, ANTA Sports added 0.49 percent, China Life Insurance declined 1.10 percent, China Mengniu Dairy lost 0.51 percent, China Resources Land dipped 0.42 percent, CITIC slid 0.45 percent, CNOOC tumbled 1.28 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical shed 0.67 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rallied 1.37 percent, Haier Smart Home retreated 1.15 percent, Hang Lung Properties skidded 0.97 percent, Henderson Land stumbled 1.59 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas sank 0.83 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dropped 0.94 percent, JD.com slipped 0.25 percent, Lenovo tanked 2.11 percent, Li Auto eased 0.11 percent, Li Ning jumped 1.52 percent, Meituan slumped 1.00 percent, New World Development fell 0.48 percent, Nongfu Spring soared 3.98 percent, Techtronic Industries advanced 0.67 percent, Xiaomi Corporation spiked 3.23 percent and WuXi Biologics was down 0.22 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened higher on Friday and stayed that way for much of the day before a late slide saw them all finish in the red.

The Dow tumbled 337.44 points or 0.75 percent to finish at 44.544.66, while the NASDAQ slumped 54.26 points or 0.28 percent to close at 19,627.44 and the S&P 500 sank 30.64 points or 0.50 percent to end at 6,040.53. For the week, the Dow rose 0.3 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 1.0 percent and the NASDAQ lost 1.6 percent.

Stocks plummeted in afternoon trading after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed President Donald Trump's threatened tariffs will be levied against major U.S. trading partners beginning the following day.

Leavitt said the Trump administration will be implementing 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada as well as a 10 percent tariff on China.

The news the tariffs will be implemented led to concerns about higher inflation keeping the Federal Reserve on hold for longer.

Oil futures settled lower Friday amid uncertainty about implementation of Trump's tariff plans on Canada and Mexico, while a stronger dollar also weighed. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for March fell $0.20 at $72.53 a barrel.