Hong Kong Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market turned emphatically higher again on Monday, one session after halting the three-day winning streak in which it had skyrocketed almost 1,450 points or 7.8 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 19,520-point plateau although it's likely to hand back much of those gains on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns for the economy and for the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were firmly in the red and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished with huge gains on Monday with support across the board - particularly among the technology stocks and properties.

For the day, the index skyrocketed 842.94 points or 4.51 percent to finish at 19,518.29 after trading between 19,035.14 and 19,539.60. Among the actives, Alibaba Group soared 9.26 percent, while Alibaba Health Info skyrocketed 19.86 percent, ANTA Sports accelerated 6.20 percent, China Life Insurance spiked 6.60 percent, China Mengniu Dairy skidded 1.01 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) climbed 2.23 percent, China Resources Land lost 0.60 percent, CITIC advanced 1.99 percent, CNOOC improved 0.90 percent, Country Garden surged 18.06 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical jumped 4.29 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rallied 6.09 percent, Hang Lung Properties strengthened 4.04 percent, Henderson Land climbed 1.66 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas advanced 1.35 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Lenovo both added 0.79 percent, JD.com soared 11.23 percent, Li Ning rallied 3.26 percent, Longfor skyrocketed 17.12 percent, Meituan jumped 3.75 percent, New World Development spiked 9.63 percent, Techtronic Industries strengthened 2.88 percent, Xiaomi Corporation surged 13.64 percent and WuXi Biologics accelerated 6.27 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened modestly lower and the losses accelerated as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 482.78 points or 1.40 percent to finish at 33,947.10, while the NASDAQ slumped 221.56 points or 1.93 percent to close at 11,239.94 and the S&P 500 sank 72.86 points or 1.79 percent to end at 3,998.84.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates following last Friday's stronger-than-expected jobs data.

While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to slow the pace of interest rate hikes next week, continued labor market tightness and elevated inflation may still lead the central bank to raise rates higher than currently anticipated. A drop in treasuries compounded the uncertainty.

Adding to the worries about where rates will peak, the Institute for Supply Management said that U.S. service sector activity unexpectedly accelerated in November.

Oil prices fell on Monday as strong U.S. service data raised the prospects for more aggressive moves by the Federal Reserve. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for January ended lower by $3.05 or 3.8 percent at $76.93 a barrel.