Continued Recovery Predicted For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 50 points or 0.5 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 16,130-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside, supported by bargain hunting and crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were modestly higher and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Tuesday with gains across the board, especially among the properties, financials and technology stocks.

For the day, the index skyrocketed 626.86 points or 4.04 percent to finish at 16,136.87 after trading between 15,541.23 and 16,154.05.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group spiked 7.57 percent, while Alibaba Health Info soared 7.83 percent, ANTA Sports climbed 4.81 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 6.76 percent, China Mengniu Dairy surged 8.00 percent, China Resources Land strengthened 5.81 percent, CITIC accelerated 7.22 percent, CNOOC improved 2.23 percent, Country Garden skyrocketed 10.04 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical rallied 6.78 percent, Galaxy Entertainment fell 0.12 percent, Haier Smart Home surged 8.07 percent, Hang Lung Properties increased 1.93 percent, Henderson Land added 2.70 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas advanced 4.34 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 3.16 percent, JD.com soared 7.79 percent, Lenovo spiked 7.48 percent, Li Ning jumped 5.44 percent, Meituan accelerated 6.46 percent, New World Development gained 2.56 percent, Techtronic Industries rose 0.36 percent, Xiaomi Corporation rallied 6.44 percent and WuXi Biologics strengthened 4.97 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened higher but also spent much of the day in the red before a late rally nudged them all back into positive territory.

The Dow climbed 141.24 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 38,521.36, while the NASDAQ rose 11.32 points or 0.07 percent to close at 15,609.00 and the S&P 500 added 11.42 points or 0.23 percent to end at 4,954.23.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as some traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves amid uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets after recent volatility.

While the major averages climbed well off Monday's early lows, fading optimism the Fed will lower interest rates in March continued to hang over the markets.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said the central bank is unlikely to cut rates in March and the chances of a rate cut next month have fallen to just 19.5 percent, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session after the Energy Information Administration's said oil inventories may drop by 0.8 million barrels per day in the current quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $0.53 or 0.73 percent at $73.31 a barrel.