Hong Kong Bourse Ripe For Profit Taking On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has climbed higher in two straight sessions, surging almost 900 points or 5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 19,100-point plateau although investors figure to cash in on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with profit taking anticipated. The European and U.S. markets finished under water and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit. The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and properties. For the day, the index advanced 158.56 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 19,108.50 after trading between 18,896.13 and 19,123.80.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group rose 0.30 percent, while Alibaba Health Info rallied 1.65 percent, ANTA Sports retreated 1.19 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.45 percent, China Mengniu Dairy plunged 2.40 percent, China Resources Land sank 0.63 percent, CITIC added 0.53 percent, CNOOC gained 0.49 percent, Country Garden plummeted 3.79 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical increased 0.60 percent, Galaxy Entertainment advanced 0.90 percent, Hang Lung Properties improved 0.77 percent, Henderson Land strengthened 1.22 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas jumped 1.39 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China soared 1.67 percent, JD.com eased 0.07 percent, Lenovo was up 0.13 percent, Li Ning climbed 1.08 percent, New World Development spiked 1.66 percent, Techtronic Industries gathered 0.27 percent, Xiaomi Corporation surged 1.68 percent, WuXi Biologics tumbled 1.35 percent and Meituan was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages opened higher on Monday, but a late slump sent them all into the red the close.

The Dow tumbled 199.90 points or 0.59 percent to finish at 33,562.86, while the NASDAQ slipped 11.34 points or 0.09 percent to close at 13,229.43 and the S&P 500 fell 8.58 points or 0.20 percent to end at 4,273.79.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as some traders looked to take a break after the passage of legislation raising the U.S. debt ceiling and the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report.

Trading activity may remain somewhat subdued this week as traders look ahead to next week's Federal Reserve meeting; the Fed is widely expected to pause its recent series of interest rate hikes.

In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said service sector activity in the U.S. saw only modest growth last month, with the index of activity in the sector falling by more than expected. Also, the Commerce Department said new orders for U.S. manufactured goods increased less than expected in April.

Crude oil prices settled higher Monday after Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude exporter, pledged to cut its production by another 1 million barrels per day in July. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended higher by $0.41 or 0.6 percent at $72.15 a barrel, off the intra-day high of $75.06.