Soft Start Expected For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, slumping more than 430 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 25,175-point plateau and it may continue to sputter on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky as investors wait for developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and flat and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the properties and a mixed picture from the financials and technology stocks.

For the day, the index sank 93.22 points or 0.37 percent to finish at the daily low of 25,176.85 after peaking at 25,466.10.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group added 0.42 percent, while Alibaba Health Info surged 3.56 percent, ANTA Sports climbed 1.41 percent, China Life Insurance spiked 2.87 percent, China Mengniu Dairy retreated 1.03 percent, China Resources Land plummeted 3.02 percent, CITIC rose 0.26 percent, CNOOC tumbled 1.64 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical dropped 0.36 percent, Galaxy Entertainment perked 0.05 percent, Haier Smart Home improved 0.24 percent, Hang Lung Properties surrendered 2.22 percent, Henderson Land tanked 2.25 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas declined 0.98 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 1.34 percent, JD.com rallied 2.65 percent, Lenovo soared 3.05 percent, Li Auto accelerated 1.16 percent, Li Ning was up 0.17 percent, Meituan fell 0.16 percent, New World Development stumbled 2.30 percent, Nongfu Spring slumped 0.60 percent, Techtronic Industries stumbled 1.34 percent, Xiaomi Corporation gained 0.38 percent, WuXi Biologics increased 0.19 percent and CLP Holdings was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened mixed but moved little, hugging the line all day and ending on opposite sides.

The Dow shed 34.30 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 44,911.82, while the NASDAQ rose 6.80 points or 0.03 percent to close at 21,629.77 and the S&P 500 eased 0.65 points or 0.01 percent to end at 6,449.15.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders kept an eye on the White House, where President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders.

The meetings at the White House come after Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Friday which failed to result in a concrete agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine.

On the U.S. economic front, the National Association of Home Builders reported a modest deterioration by U.S. homebuilder confidence in the month of August.

Crude oil priced climbed on Monday as investors focused their attention on the meeting between the U.S. and Ukrainian presidents amid rising geopolitical tensions surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was up $0.60 or 0.96 percent at $63.40 per barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will see July numbers for unemployment later today; in June, the jobless rate was 3.5 percent.