The Hong Kong stock market has been on a upward trajectory over past few trading sessions, managing to accrue over 80 points in total which generalizes to about 0.5 percent. Presently hovering just below the 16,600-point mark, it might begin to stabilize this Tuesday.
International market forecasting indicates that the Asian markets may undergo mild consolidation as they await major data that could significantly impact future interest rates. While European markets exhibited mixed and stable behavior, U.S markets leaned towards a slight drop. It's expected that the Asian markets will mediate the two.
The Hang Seng Index concluded marginally higher Monday despite property sector frailty counterbalancing advances in technology stocks, amounting to a minimal rise of 6.53 points or 0.04 percent that ended at 16,595.97.
Notable market activities included Alibaba Group's downtick by 1.30 percent against Alibaba Health Info's uptick by 1.73 percent, while ANTA Sports fell by 0.33 percent. China Life Insurance fell by 2.28 percent, China Mengniu Dairy by 2.34 percent, China Resources Land by a hefty 5.45 percent, CITIC by 0.13 percent, while CNOOC surged 3.34 percent and Country Garden dropped 3.85 percent.
Other notable activities included CSPC Pharmaceutical's decline by 2.13 percent, Galaxy Entertainment's significant fall of 4.17 percent, Hang Lung Properties' 0.35 percent dip, an addition of 0.66 percent by Hong Kong & China Gas, a fall of 0.74 percent by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, JD.com's 1.16 percent drop, Lenovo's remarkable 7.15 percent rise, Li Ning's 2.64 percent decline, Meituan's 3.51 percent jump, New World Development's 4.67 percent plunge, Techtronic Industries' impressive surge of 9.57 percent, and Xiaomi Corporation and CLP Holdings both rose 0.15 percent. WuXi Biologics saw a tremendous rise of 11.70 percent while Henderson Land remained unaffected.
Wall Street negativity influenced these movements as well, as major averages started off lower on Monday, rallied during the afternoon, but relapsed into detriment by closure.
Influences on Wall Street stemmed from investors expressing caution, awaiting the revealing of several crucial data sets in the upcoming days including Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's congressional testimonies which are expected to provide insight on interest rates, particularly his address at the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday and the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.
Anticipation extends to Friday's Labor Department's employment report for February which will also potentially impact the forecast for interest rates.
The energy sector saw a decline on Monday with oil futures falling due to apprehensions over future energy demand after OPEC extended its production cuts till the end of the second quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended at $78.74 a barrel, lower by $1.23 or 1.5 percent.
