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(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slumped almost 300 points or 1.2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 25,900-point plateau although it's likely to climb higher again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, thanks to easing crude oil prices. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares and technology stocks.
For the day, the index 197.27 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 25,898.61 after trading between 25,690.36 and 25,945.75.
Among the actives, AIA and China Mobile both were down 0.12 percent, while Alibaba Group and NetEase both shed 0.38 percent, Baidu rallied 2.12 percent, Bank of China retreated 0.79 percent, BOC Hong Kong tumbled 0.93 percent, China Construction Bank declined 0.68 percent, China Life Insurance climbed 1.18 percent, China Merchants Bank perked 0.04 percent, China Petroleum & Chemical sank 0.43 percent, China Shenhua Energy dropped 0.46 percent, CITIC contracted 0.54 percent, CNOOC fell 0.21 percent, Hong Kong Exchange added 0.77 percent, HSBC plummeted 5.16 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 0.29 percent, JD.com skidded 0.51 percent, Meituan tanked 1.07 percent, Nongfu Spring crashed 1.42 percent, PetroChina and Tencent Holdings both slipped 0.17 percent, Ping An Insurance gained 0.40 percent, Semiconductor Manufacturing plunged 1.87 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties rose 0.22 percent, Xiaomi Corporation cratered 1.68 percent, WuXi AppTec eased 0.07 percent and Zijin Mining stumbled 0.84 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages started higher and picked up steam as the day progressed, finishing near daily highs.
The Dow jumped 356.35 points or 073 percent to finish at 49,298.25, while the NASDAQ rallied 258.32 points or 1.03 percent to end at a record 25,326.13 and the S&P 500 gained 58.47 points or 0.81 percent to close at 7,259.22, also a record.
The strength on Wall Street came amid a sharp pullback by the price of crude oil, with U.S. crude oil futures plunging by more than 3 percent after spiking by more than 4 percent on Monday.
Crude oil prices plummeted on Tuesday after U.S. attempts to unblock Strait of Hormuz traffic boosted market sentiments and eased supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was down $3.80 or 3.57 percent at $102.62 per barrel.
A positive reaction to some of the latest earnings news also contributed to the strength on Wall Street, led by Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), which handily beat the street.
In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Institute for Supply Management showed a slight slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. service sector activity in the month of April.
Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide March data for retail sales later today; in February, sales were up 19.3 percent on year.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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