Market Commentary and Intraday News

Hang Seng May Find Traction On Tuesday

206 days ago

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved lower now in back-to-back sessions, dipping almost 300 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index finished just above the 21,510-point plateau, and now analysts are predicting a mild recovery at the opening of trade on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement, devoid of any lead from the United States but for concern over Hurricane Sandy. The major stock markets in New York City announced Monday that trading will remain on hold for a second consecutive day on Tuesday in the face of the record-setting storm. The European markets were mostly lower on Monday, and the Asian markets may open in similar fashion on Tuesday.

The Hang Seng finished slightly lower on Monday as heavy losses from the property sector were mitigated by support from the oil companies and resource stocks.

For the day, the index fell 34.52 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 21,511.05 after trading between 21,397.09 and 21,561.97 on turnover of 47.07 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Among the actives, Cheung Kong dropped 4.67 percent, Henderson Land plummeted 6.41 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties lost 5.10 percent, New World Development plunged 6.36 percent and Sino Land shed 6.40 percent, while China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) spiked 2.87 percent, PetroChina surged 2.09 percent, China Resources Land added 0.94 percent and HSBC collected 0.40 percent.

There is no lead from Wall Street as the markets were closed for at least the first two days of the week by the storm. NYSE Euronext (NYX), the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, said it will close its markets in coordination with all U.S. equities, bonds, options and derivatives markets on Tuesday.

The company said it intend to re-open the U.S. markets Wednesday morning if conditions permit. Weather has not forced the New York Stock Exchange to close for two consecutive days since the Great Blizzard of 1888.

Similarly, NASDAQ OMX Group (NDAQ) said the NASDAQ Stock Market and other NASDAQ OMX-owned U.S exchanges and markets will remain closed on Tuesday. NASDAQ also said it expects all NASDAQ OMX-owned U.S. exchanges and markets to open as normal on Wednesday.

Treasuries moved modestly higher over the course of an abbreviated trading session on Monday, extending the strong upward move seen last Friday.

Bond prices moved to the upside in early trading and managed to remain in positive territory. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 3 basis points to 1.72 percent.

U.S. crude oil settled lower Monday on demand concerns on the threat posed by Hurricane Sandy with a number of refineries on reduced operation or have shut down production in anticipation of the event. The dollar also strengthened against a basket of major currencies, with investors finding it a safe haven even as the hurricane nears landfall.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

Copyright(c) 2012 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved

View all of today's news »