Hong Kong Stock Market May Head South Again On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 350 points or 1.7 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 19,680-point plateau although it may hand back some of those gains on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, thanks to the uncertainty surrounding the U.S. debt ceiling situation. The European and U.S. bourses were mostly lower and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies. For the day, the index climbed 227.60 points or 1.17 percent to finish at 19,678.17 after trading between 19,410.07 and 19,806.44.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group strengthened 1.39 percent, while Alibaba Health Info surged 4.70 percent, ANTA Sports jumped 1.74 percent, China Mengniu Dairy accelerated 1.62 percent, China Resources Land gained 0.47 percent, CITIC climbed 1.38 percent, CNOOC advanced 0.94 percent, Country Garden fell 0.30 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical rallied 2.01 percent, Galaxy Entertainment perked 0.19 percent, Hang Lung Properties spiked 2.91 percent, Henderson Land gathered 0.37 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas sank 0.67 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.68 percent, JD.com accelerated 2.11 percent, Lenovo rallied 1.92 percent, Li Ning surged 3.64 percent, Meituan soared 3.11 percent, New World Development added 0.72 percent, Techtronic Industries rose 0.44 percent, Xiaomi Corporation increased 0.92 percent, WuXi Biologics skyrocketed 5.69 percent and China Life Insurance was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened slightly higher but quickly headed south. They staged a modest recovery as the day progressed, although the Dow never managed to escape from negative territory.

The Dow dropped 140.05 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 33,286.58, while the NASDAQ climbed 62.88 points or 0.50 percent to close at 12,720.78 and the S&P 500 rose 0.65 points or 002 percent to end at 4,192.63.

The weakness on Wall Street came as investors largely refrained from making significant moves as they awaited updates on debt ceiling negotiations between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., which so far have not found a resolution.

Treasury Secretary Yellen said on Sunday that the likelihood of the Treasury paying all U.S. bills by June 15 is getting smaller each day.

Concerns over the outlook for interest rates also weighed as Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said that he backed two more increases.

Crude oil prices pared early losses and settled higher on Monday, amid hopes the U.S. lawmakers will reach a debt ceiling deal soon and help the nation avoid a default. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for June settled at $71.99 a barrel, up $0.44 or 0.6 percent on the expiration day.