Hong Kong Stock Market May Halt Its Slide On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has tracked lower in back-to-back sessions, sinking more than 350 points or 1.4 percent in that span. The Hang Seng now sits just beneath the 24,450-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on sinking oil prices and rebounding technology shares. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished slightly lower on Monday as losses from the technology and construction companies were offset by gains among the finance and energy stocks.

For the day, the index lost 32.91 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 24,448.95 after trading between 24,421.11 and 24,738.88.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened sharply higher and continued to accelerate throughout the day, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 1,104.02 points or 2.15 percent to finish at 52,389.75, while the NASDAQ rallied 673.71 points or 2.74 percent to close at 25,253.14 and the S&P 500 spiked 173.08 points or 2.35 percent to end at 7,549.94.

The rally on Wall Street came as traders continued to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following last week's historic sell-off. Technology stocks led the way higher again, helping the NASDAQ recover further from its lowest levels in over six months.

The extended recovery by tech stocks comes despite a sharp pullback by shares of Nvidia (NVDA) after the chipmaker said it would open an investigation into reports that CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort.

Buying interest has also been generated in reaction to a steep drop by the price of crude oil, with U.S. crude oil futures plunging by more than 3 percent.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump downplayed the possibility for fresh strikes on Iran that diminished supply disruption concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $3.25 or 3.58 percent at $87.58 per barrel.