Hong Kong Shares Due For Support On Wednesday

(RTTNews) – The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower in five straight sessions, sinking more than 690 points or 2.3 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 28,780-point plateau although it may halt its slide on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets offers little guidance on a lack of catalysts. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished slightly lower on Tuesday following mixed performances from the property, technology and oil companies.

For the day, the index eased 5.90 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 28,781.38 after trading between 28,638.31 and 28,979.20.

Among the actives, AAC Technologies dropped 0.82 percent, while AIA Group lost 0.36 percent, Alibaba Group sank 0.85 percent, Alibaba Health Info surrendered 0.96 percent, ANTA Sports tumbled 1.50 percent, China Life Insurance increased 0.25 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) retreated 1.04 percent, China Resources Land surged 1.55 percent, CITIC skidded 1.30 percent, CNOOC added 0.46 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical was up 0.16 percent, Galaxy Entertainment jumped 1.20 percent, Hang Lung Properties shed 0.51 percent, Henderson Land fell 0.26 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas spiked 1.32 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 1.00 percent, Longfor soared 1.45 percent, Meituan declined 1.00 percent, New World Development advanced 0.72 percent, Sands China and Wharf Real Estate both gained 0.45 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties climbed 1.01 percent, Techtronic Industries rose 0.37 percent, WuXi Biologics eased 0.08 percent and China Mengniu Dairy and Xiaomi Corporation were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is unclear as stocks spent Tuesday’s session bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line, finally settling mixed and little changed.

The Dow fell 30.42 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 34,599.82, while the NASDAQ gained 43.19 points or 0.31 percent to end at 13,924.91 and the S&P 500 rose 0.74 points or 0.02 percent to close at 4,227.26.

Despite optimism about economic growth amid the vaccine rollout, investors were reluctant to build up positions ahead of upcoming inflation data and concerns the Federal Reserve may start discussions on tapering its asset buying program.

Inflation data for May is due out on Thursday and may provide some cues on policy from the Federal Reserve – which is scheduled to meet next week.

Crude oil futures spiked on Tuesday on hopes that demand will continue to rise following reports that the Pfizer and AstraZeneca Covid vaccines are effective against the Covid Delta variant. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended up by $0.82 or 1.2 percent at $70.05 a barrel, the highest settlement since October 2018.