Hong Kong Shares Expected To Open To The Upside On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, tumbling almost 1,200 points or 4.4 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 26,775-point plateau although it's tipped to open in the green on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on decent economic data, although weakness among the oil stocks may limit the upside. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Monday with damage in all sectors, especially among the finance, property and technology companies.

For the day, the index tanked 611.54 points or 2.23 percent to finish at 26,775.57 after trading between 26,507.62 and 27,100.09.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group stumbled 3.49 percent, while Alibaba Health Info tanked 4.14 percent, ANTA Sports dipped 0.45 percent, China Life Insurance surrendered 3.96 percent, China Mengniu Dairy vaulted 1.23 percent, China Resources Land tumbled 3.19 percent, CITIC declined 2.48 percent, CNOOC crashed 4.76 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical plummeted 4.69 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rallied 1.56 percent, Haier Smart Home slid 0.70 percent, Hang Lung Properties skidded 2.12 percent, Henderson Land slipped 0.71 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas was down 0.68 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 1.23 percent, JD.com sank 1.69 percent, Lenovo jumped 1.80 percent, Li Auto slumped 2.27 percent, Li Ning plunged 4.31 percent, Meituan contracted 2.42 percent, New World Development cratered 11.95 percent, Nongfu Spring dropped 2.00 percent, Techtronic Industries fell 0.94 percent, Xiaomi Corporation shed 1.24 percent, WuXi Biologics retreated 3.08 percent and ENN Energy was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened flat but quickly tracked to the upside and spent the balance of the day in the green.

The Dow jumped 515.19 points or 1.05 percent to finish at 49,407.66, while the NASDAQ added 130.29 points or 0.56 percent to end at 23,592.11 and the S&P 500 gained 37.41 points or 0.54 percent to close at 6,976.44.

The strength on Wall Street followed the release of a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing manufacturing activity in the U.S. unexpectedly expanded for the first time in 12 months in January.

The markets saw continued strength after President Donald Trump announced that he has reached a trade deal with India.

But traders seemed somewhat reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Monday as signs of de-escalation of the U.S.-Iran conflict reduced supply-output concerns in the Middle East, taking off the geopolitical risk premium. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was down $3.28 or 5.03 percent at $61.93 per barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will see preliminary Q4 data for gross domestic product and December numbers for retail sales later today. In Q3, GDP was up 0.7 percent on quarter and 3.8 percent on year, while retail sales rose an annual 6.5 percent in November.