Rebound Predicted For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last six trading days since the end of the five-day losing streak in which it plummeted almost 1,450 points or 7 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 20,560-point plateau although it's tipped to open in the green again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat, with support from the energy stocks likely offset by weakness from the technology companies. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Monday following mixed performances from the oil, property and technology stocks.

For the day, the index shed 46.20 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 20,562.94 after trading between 20,353.68 and 20,595.09. Among the actives, Alibaba Group tanked 2.45 percent, while Alibaba Health Info sank 0.39 percent, ANTA Sports rose 0.44 percent, China Life Insurance and Techtronic Industries both fell 0.17 percent, China Mengniu Dairy plunged 2.66 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) advanced 0.84 percent, China Resources Land surged 3.28 percent, CITIC gained 0.49 percent, CNOOC retreated 0.81 percent, Country Garden jumped 1.97 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rallied 1.56 percent, Hang Lung Properties improved 0.42 percent, Henderson Land added 0.55 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas eased 0.12 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.73 percent, Lenovo spiked 2.04 percent, Li Ning climbed 1.20 percent, Longfor skyrocketed 6.77 percent, Meituan tumbled 1.83 percent, New World Development increased 0.38 percent, Xiaomi Corporation declined 093 percent, WuXi Biologics plummeted 3.60 percent and CSPC Pharmaceutical, JD.com and Hengan International were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened flat on Monday and then bounced up and down throughout the session before finishing mixed.

The Dow climbed 90.75 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 31,990.04, while the NASDAQ lost 51.45 points or 0.43 percent to close at 11,782.67 and the S&P 500 rose 5.14 points or 0.13 percent to end at 3,966.77.

Trading activity was somewhat subdued as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision on Wednesday.

CME Group's FedWatch tool is currently indicating a 77.5 percent chance of a 75-basis point interest rate hike and a 22.5 percent chance of a 100-basis point rate hike.

Crude oil futures settled sharply higher on Monday as concerns about outlook for energy demand eased, while the dollar's weakness ahead of the upcoming Fed statement also supported crude oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $2.00 or 2.1 percent at $96.70 a barrel.