The Hong Kong stock market has ended lower in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 180 points or 0.7 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 26,330-point plateau and it figures to see little movement on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of OPEC and G20 meetings later this week. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Hang Seng finished slightly lower on Tuesday as losses from the properties and oil and insurance companies were offset by support from the casinos and financials.
For the day, the index lost 44.22 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 26,331.96 after trading between 26,158.97 and 26,417.84.
Among the actives, AAC Technologies surged 3.00 percent, while China Mengniu Dairy plummeted 2.24 percent, CNOOC plunged 2.03 percent, Tencent Holdings soared 1.95 percent, China Mobile tumbled 1.22 percent, Sands China spiked 1.06 percent, Galaxy Entertainment jumped 1.03 percent, AIA Group skidded 0.85 percent, WH Group dropped 0.83 percent, New World Development retreated 0.75 percent, China Life Insurance declined 0.48 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) shed 0.46 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas climbed 0.38 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical advanced 0.37 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.18 percent, Ping An Insurance eased 0.07 percent and China Resources Power Holdings and BOC Hong Kong were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as stocks shook off a lower open on Tuesday, with bargain hunters lifting the major averages back into the green.
The Dow added 108.49 points or 0.44 percent to end at 24,748.73, while the NASDAQ gained 0.85 points or 0.01 percent to 7,082.70 and the S&P was up 8.75 points or 0.33 percent to 2,682.20.
The initial pullback on Wall Street reflected renewed skepticism about a trade deal between the U.S. and China after President Donald Trump said it was "highly unlikely" he would delay an increase in tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent.
Trump also said the U.S. could slap 10 percent tariffs on iPhones and laptops imported from China, contributing to an early sell-off by shares of Apple (AAPL). Trump is due to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a G20 summit in Argentina later this week.
In economic news, the Conference Board noted a bigger than expected fall in consumer confidence in November.
Crude oil prices were down slightly on Tuesday ahead of the forthcoming OPEC meet in Vienna. Crude oil futures for January ended down $0.07 or 0.1 percent at $51.56 a barrel, well off the session's low of $50.31.
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