Hong Kong Shares May Open Under Pressure

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Monday halted the four-day slide in which it had slumped almost 830 points or 3.2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 25,450-point plateau although it may be looking at a soft start on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on surging crude oil prices and increasing anxiety in the Middle East. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index spiked 336.38 points or 1.34 percent to finish at 25,453.23 after trading between 25,303.41 and 25,578.27.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed and flat but turned lower by midday, ending near session lows.

The Dow sank 272.63 points or 0.51 percent to finish at 53,459.78, while the NASDAQ lost 84.25 points or 0.32 percent to close at 26,644.91 and the S&P 500 fell 40.70 points or 0.52 percent to end at 7,745.06.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came as the price of crude oil moved sharply higher amid indications Iran has ruled out talks with the U.S. to extend a 60-day ceasefire that expired Monday.

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Monday, reflecting concerns about a re-escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery surged $2.28 or 2.8 percent to $84.68 a barrel.

Airline stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the session amid the surge in crude oil prices, while substantial weakness was also visible among software, telecom, computer hardware and housing stocks.