Hang Seng Expected To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the four-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 600 points or 2.2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 25,850-point plateau although it may turn lower again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly soft as investors may look to book gains before the year's end. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets also figure to tick lower.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index jumped 219.37 points or 0.86 percent to finish at 25,854.60 after trading between 25,611.23 and 25,930.22.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group increased 0.84 percent, while Alibaba Health Info lost 0.39 percent, ANTA Sports rose 0.62 percent, China Life Insurance sank 0.64 percent, China Mengniu Dairy climbed 0.94 percent, China Resources Land strengthened 1.03 percent, CITIC soared 2.41 percent, CNOOC surged 3.97 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical dropped 0.82 percent, Galaxy Entertainment gathered 0.48 percent, Haier Smart Home advanced 0.90 percent, Hang Lung Properties rallied 1.17 percent, Henderson Land fell 0.35 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas was up 0.42 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.64 percent, JD.com accelerated 1.43 percent, Lenovo added 0.76 percent, Li Auto shed 0.45 percent, Li Ning slipped 0.32 percent, Meituan perked 0.10 percent, New World Development expanded 0.28 percent, Nongfu Spring jumped 1.15 percent, Techtronic Industries improved 0.88 percent, Xiaomi Corporation spiked 2.02 percent and WuXi Biologics gained 0.69 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and spent most of the day slightly in the red, ending near session lows.

The Dow sank 94.87 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 48,367.06, while the NASDAQ lost 55.27 points or 0.24 percent to close at 23,419.08 and the S&P 500 slipped 9.50 points or 0.14 percent to end at 6,896.24.

Traders initially seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting.

However, trading activity remained subdued after the release of the minutes, which reiterated officials' mixed views about the outlook for interest rates. Participants expressed a "range of views" about the restrictiveness of the Fed's current monetary policy stance.

The Fed's next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for January 27-28, with CME Group's FedWatch Tool indicating an 83.9 percent chance the central bank will leave rates unchanged.

Crude oil prices edged lower on Tuesday as U.S. data showed a modest build in crude oil inventories. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was down $0.16 or 0.28 percent at $57.92 per barrel.