Bargain Hunting Likely To Lift Hong Kong Shares

The Hong Kong stock market turned lower again on Monday, one session after it had halted the two-day losing streak in which it had dropped more than 150 points or 0.6 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 28,370-point plateau although it's expected to rebound on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on earnings optimism and a spike in crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the financials, properties, casinos and oil and insurance companies.

For the day, the index dropped 394.14 points or 1.37 percent to finish at 28,371.26 after trading between 28,303.55 and 28,649.44.

Among the actives, Wharf Real Estate plummeted 3.17 percent, while Galaxy Entertainment plunged 2.61 percent, New World Development tumbled 2.42 percent, Sands China and Techtronic Industries both skidded 2.07 percent, China Life Insurance retreated 1.93 percent, China Mobile declined 1.91 percent, BOC Hong Kong contracted 1.75 percent, CITIC sank 1.69 percent, Ping An Insurance dropped 1.62 percent, AIA Group shed 1.53 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 1.43 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical fell 1.36 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical and Sino Land both slid 1.34 percent, WH Group gained 1.02 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dipped 1.01 percent, China Mengniu Dairy was down 0.94 percent and CNOOC was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as stocks moved higher on Monday, although buying interest was subdued and limited the upside for the major averages.

The Dow added 17.70 points or 0.07 percent to 27,171.90, while the NASDAQ gained 57.65 points or 0.71 percent to 8,204.14 and the S&P 500 rose 8.42 points or 0.28 percent to 2,985.03.

The higher close on Wall Street partly reflected optimism about upcoming earnings news, as a slew of big-name companies are due to report their quarterly results this week.

Amazon (AMZN), Coca-Cola (KO), AT&T (T), Boeing (BA), Caterpillar (CAT), Facebook (FB), Alphabet (GOOGL), Intel (INTC), McDonald's (MCD), and Twitter (TWTR) are just a few of the companies due to report their quarterly results.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Monday amid escalation in tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August settled up $0.59 or 1.1 percent at $56.22 a barrel on the expiration day.