Hong Kong Shares Figure To Bounce Higher Again On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since ending the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost 700 points or 2.7 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 26,590-point plateau although it's likely to open to the upside on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, with technology shares likely to lead the markets higher. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares and technology stocks, while the property sector came in mixed.

For the day, the index tumbled 491.59 points or 1.82 percent to finish at 26,590.32 after trading between 26,480.86 and 26,913.68.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group stumbled 2.76 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plunged 2.94 percent, ANTA Sports contracted 1.74 percent, China Life Insurance plummeted 6.07 percent, China Mengniu Dairy shed 1.22 percent, China Resources Land fell 1.06 percent, CITIC dipped 0.81 percent, CNOOC slipped 1.01 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical cratered 5.18 percent, Galaxy Entertainment and Xiaomi Corporation both retreated 2.24 percent, Haier Smart Home dropped 1.58 percent, Hang Lung Properties added 0.39 percent, Henderson Land rallied 2.08 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China skidded 1.68 percent, JD.com lost 1.12 percent, Lenovo jumped 1.71 percent, Li Auto sank 1.51 percent, Li Ning slumped 1.84 percent, Meituan crashed 4.24 percent, New World Development tanked 2.85 percent, Nongfu Spring declined 2.11 percent, Techtronic Industries eased 0.40 percent, WuXi Biologics tumbled 2.30 percent and Hong Kong & China Gas was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the markets opened flat on Tuesday but quickly trended upward and spent the balance of the day in positive territory, ending near session highs.

The Dow soared 370.44 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 49,174.50, while the NASDAQ rallied 236.41 points or 1.04 percent to end at 22,863.68 and the S&P 500 gained 52.32 points or 0.77 percent to close at 6,890.07.

The strength on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting, as some traders looked to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following the steep drop on Monday when the Dow fell to a one-month low.

Semiconductor stocks lead the move back to the upside, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumping by 1.5 percent to a new record closing high. Significant strength was also visible among networking, gold, airline and software stocks.

In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board showed an unexpected improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in February as its consumer confidence index rose to 91.2 from an upwardly revised 89.0 in January.

Crude oil prices fell slumped Tuesday as traders continue to evaluate the potential turbulence in the trade tariff environment following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on reciprocal tariffs. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery sank $0.71 or 1.1 percent to $66.31 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will release January inflation data and Q4 GDP numbers later today. In December, inflation was up 0.3 percent on month and 1.4 percent on year. GDP is expected to rise 1.0 percent on quarter and 3.8 percent on year, up from 0.9 percent on quarter and 3.7 percent on year in the three months prior.