Hong Kong Shares Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market turned lower again on Monday, one session after ending the two-day slide in which it had dropped almost 470 points or 2.1 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 23,340-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growing U.S. tariff concerns. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian markets are also expected to open under pressure. The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Monday as losses from the technology and financial shares were offset by support from the property sector. For the day, the index slumped 136.31 points or 0.58 percent to finish at 23,341.61 after trading between 23,221.57 and 23,688.45. Among the actives, Alibaba Group slumped 2.02 percent, while Alibaba Health Info plunged 5.13 percent, ANTA Sports accelerated 3.84 percent, China Life Insurance rallied 3.82 percent, China Mengniu Dairy soared 4.69 percent, China Resources Land increased 1.80 percent, CITIC perked 0.11 percent, CNOOC tumbled 2.27 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical gained 1.00 percent, Galaxy Entertainment spiked 4.41 percent, Haier Smart Home strengthened 3.00 percent, Hang Lung Properties improved 2.20 percent, Henderson Land added 1.70 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rose 0.99 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China sank 0.36 percent, JD.com fell 0.31 percent, Lenovo tanked 4.56 percent, Li Auto stumbled 2.93 percent, Li Ning jumped 3.02 percent, Meituan advanced 2.21 percent, New World Development surged 6.77 percent, Nongfu Spring climbed 2.37 percent, Techtronic Industries retreated 1.55 percent, Xiaomi Corporation dipped 0.19 percent and WuXi Biologics plummeted 9.04 percent. The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened higher on Monday but faded quickly and finished mixed.

The Dow added 33.19 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 43,461.21, while the NASDAQ tumbled 237.08 points or 1.21 percent to close at 19,286.93 and the S&P 500 sank 29.88 points or 0.50 percent to end at 5,983.25.

The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 ended the day firmly in the red after President Donald Trump said previously delayed tariffs on Canada and Mexico are "going forward on time." The volatility on Wall Street also came as traders looked ahead to the release of earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA). The AI darling and market leader is scheduled to release its fourth quarter results after the close of trading on Wednesday.

Oil prices climbed higher on Monday as fresh sanctions by the United States on Iran raised the possibility of a drop in global supplies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April settled higher by $0.30 at $70.70 a barrel. Closer to home, Hong Kong will release January numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In December, imports were down 1.1 percent on month and exports rose 5.2 percent for a trade deficit of HKD34.5 billion.