Hong Kong Stock Market Has Flat Lead For Wednesday's Trade

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in two sessions, gathering more than 260 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 17,875-point plateau although it's expected to spin its wheels on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key corporate and inflation data. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to also hug the unchanged line.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Tuesday as the financials, properties and technology stocks ended mostly in the green.

For the day, the index improved 75.94 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 17,874.67 after trading between 17,624.42 and 17,879.27.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group plummeted 4.02 percent, while Alibaba Health Info gained 0.34 percent, ANTA Sports rose 0.28 percent, China Life Insurance and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China both collected 1.27 percent, China Mengniu Dairy advanced 1.31 percent, China Resources Land gathered 0.23 percent, CITIC spiked 3.05 percent, CNOOC soared 3.38 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical perked 0.21 percent, ENN Energy and Haier Smart Home both tumbled 3.33 percent, Galaxy Entertainment sank 0.81 percent, Hang Lung Properties strengthened 1.90 percent, Henderson Land surged 4.13 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas improved 1.11 percent, JD.com plunged 3.69 percent, Lenovo climbed 1.48 percent, Li Auto accelerated 2.19 percent, Li Ning rallied 2.38 percent, Meituan stumbled 2.57 percent, New World Development jumped 2.11 percent, Nongfu Spring fell 0.33 percent, Techtronic Industries added 0.38 percent, Xiaomi Corporation increased 0.85 percent, WuXi Biologics dropped 2.19 percent and Hengan International was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is flat to positive as the major averages straddled the unchanged line throughout Tuesday's trade before finally finishing barely higher.

The Dow rose 10.00 points or 0.02 percent to finish at a record 41,250.50, while the NASDAQ added 29.05 points or 0.16 percent to close at 17,754.82 and the S&P 500 perked 8.96 points or 0.16 percent to end at 5,625.80.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA), with the AI darling due to release its fiscal second quarter results later today.

Traders were also looking ahead to the release of Commerce Department's report on personal income and spending in the month of July, which includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve, on Friday.

While the data is not likely to affect optimism the Fed will lower rates next month, it could impact expectations for how quickly the central bank cuts rates.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday after three successive days of strong gains, consolidating ahead of supply data due out later today. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for October slumped $1.89 or 2.5 percent at $75.53 a barrel.