Rally May Stall For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, collecting more than 310 points or 1.8 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 17,420-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of the Federal Reserve's Monetary Policy decision later this week. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares and mixed performances from the property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index improved 53.03 point or 0.31 percent to finish at the daily high of 17,422.12 after moving as low as 17,177.08.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group dropped 0.91 percent, while Alibaba Health Info retreated 1.43 percent, ANTA Sports skidded 1.00 percent, China Life Insurance added 0.53 percent, China Mengniu Dairy declined 1.42 percent, China Resources Land tumbled 2.14 percent, CITIC dipped 0.14 percent, CNOOC lost 0.32 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical jumped 1.75 percent, Galaxy Entertainment advanced 1.07 percent, Hang Lung Properties fell 0.19 percent, Henderson Land strengthened 1.49 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas climbed 1.45 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.95 percent, JD.com sank 0.86 percent, Lenovo rallied 1.84 percent, Li Auto gained 0.20 percent, Li Ning slumped 1.22 percent, Meituan spiked 2.85 percent, New World Development surged 4.98 percent, Nongfu Spring plunged 2.60 percent, Techtronic Industries soared 3.71 percent, Xiaomi Corporation rose 0.10 percent and WuXi Biologics shed 0.69 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Monday, largely hugged the line throughout the session and ended little changed.

The Dow advanced 228.30 points or 0.55 percent to finish at a record 41,622.08, while the NASDAQ slumped 91.85 points or 0.52 percent to close at 17,592.13 and the S&P 500 rose 7.07 points or 0.13 percent to end at 5,633.09.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as investors looked ahead to Wednesday's Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement and stayed largely cautious and selective.

The Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates, but there remains some debate about the size of the rate cut. CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 65.0 percent chance of a half-point rate cut and a 35.0 percent chance of a quarter-point rate cut.

On the economic front, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released a report showing regional manufacturing grew for the first time in nearly a year in the month of September.

Oil prices climbed higher on Monday as concerns about tight supply outweighed demand outlook, while a weak dollar also contributed to the rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for October ended higher by $1.44 at $70.09 a barrel.