The Hong Kong stock market on Tuesday halted the four-day slide in which it had plummeted more than 1,500 points or 6 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 25,770-point plateau and it may see additional support on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, fueled by a rebound in crude oil prices. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed - and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Hang Seng finished barely higher on Tuesday as gains from the casinos and properties were offset by weakness from the oil and insurance companies.
For the day, the index added 19.29 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 25,771.67 after trading between 25,623.40 and 25,861.73.
Among the actives, AAC Technologies surged 2.77 percent, while Galaxy Entertainment soared 2.43 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical spiked 2.19 percent, China Mengniu Dairy jumped 2.13 percent, Sands China climbed 1.87 percent, China Mobile tumbled 1.62 percent, CITIC skidded 1.11 percent, Tencent Holdings advanced 1.04 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) dropped 0.94 percent, Ping An Insurance shed 0.88 percent, AIA Group added 0.73 percent, CNOOC and China Life Insurance both lost 0.62 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 0.37 percent, New World Development gained 0.19 percent, WH Group and BOC Hong Kong both eased 0.17 percent and Hong Kong & China Gas was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as stocks showed a lack of direction on Tuesday, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finishing mixed.
The Dow shed 53.02 points or 0.22 percent to 24,370.24, while the NASDAQ added 11.31 points or 0.16 percent to 7,031.83 and the S&P 500 fell 0.94 points or 0.04 percent to 2,636.78.
Renewed optimism about U.S.-China trade talks contributed to the initial strength on Wall Street after a telephone call between top officials from the world's two largest economies.
But skepticism resurfaced following reports that the Trump administration is preparing a series of actions this week to call out China for allegedly stealing U.S. trade secrets and technologies.
A testy public exchange between Trump and top Democratic leaders over funding for his proposed border wall may have also raised concerns about a partial government shutdown.
Crude oil futures rebounded to close higher on Tuesday, aided by an unexpected supply cut from Libya. Crude oil futures for January ended up $0.65 or 1.3 percent at $51.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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