Consolidation Expected For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, advancing more than 320 points or 1.2 percent in that span. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 26,490-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets remains grim thanks to ongoing geopolitical concerns in the Middle East. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index improved 126.41 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 26,487.48 after trading between 26,342.02 and 26,529.49.

Among the actives, AIA tumbled 0.84 percent, while Alibaba Group dropped 0.51 percent, Baidu rallied 1.47 percent, Bank of China gained 0.77 percent, BOC Hong Kong fell 0.13 percent, China Construction Bank added 0.90 percent, China Life Insurance shed 0.36 percent, China Merchants Bank and JD.com both collected 0.49 percent, China Mobile spiked 2.32 percent, China Petroleum & Chemical expanded 1.32 percent, China Shenhua Energy surged 3.10 percent, CITIC skidded 0.62 percent, CNOOC elevated 1.06 percent, Hong Kong Exchange vaulted 1.36 percent, HSBC climbed 1.05 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and PetroChina both advanced 0.97 percent, Meituan jumped 1.53 percent, NetEase sank 0.49 percent, Nongfu Spring lost 0.29 percent, Ping An Insurance eased 0.08 percent, Semiconductor Manufacturing rose 0.50 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties accelerated 2.06 percent, Tencent Holdings slumped 0.67 percent, Xiaomi Corporation perked 0.25 percent, WuXi AppTec plummeted 2.26 percent and Zijin Mining soared 2.91 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday but quickly turned lower and remained in the red for the remainder of the day, ending at session lows.

The Dow dropped 293.18 points of 0.59 percent to finish at 49,149.38, while the NASDAQ sank 144.43 points or 0.59 percent to end at 24,259.96 and the S&P 500 lost 45.13 points or 0.63 percent to close at 7,064.01.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came as the price of crude oil has moved sharply higher over the course of the day.

Crude oil prices continued to surge on Tuesday as the ongoing shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz kept supply disruption concerns alive. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up $3.99 or 4.45 percent at $93.60 per barrel.

Earlier in the session, the markets benefitted from positive corporate earnings news from the likes of UnitedHealth (UNH) and homebuilder D.R. Horton (DHI), both of which handily beat expectations.

Early buying interest was also generated in reaction to a Commerce Department report showing retail sales in the U.S. surged by more than expected in the month of March.