(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Monday wrote a finish to the four-day slide in which it had plummeted more than 1,850 points or 6.2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 28,900-point plateau and it's poised to open higher again on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly positive as they recover from heavy selling last week. The European and U.S. bourses were firmly higher and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.
The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the financials, properties, casinos and oil and technology stocks.
For the day, the index spiked 609.15 points or 2.15 percent to finish at 28,892.86 after trading between 28,382.26 and 28,982.77.
Among the actives, Meituan skyrocketed 9.89 percent, while WuXi Biologics surged 6.23 percent, Techtronic Industries soared 5.14 percent, ANTA Sports spiked 4.52 percent, CNOOC accelerated 3.28 percent, AAC Technologies rallied 2.61 percent, AIA Group jumped 2.56 percent, Xiaomi Corporation climbed 2.05 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical gathered 2.02 percent, Alibaba Group perked 1.78 percent, Hang Lung Properties tumbled 1.45 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) advanced 0.81 percent, Galaxy Entertainment added 0.77 percent, Power Assets gained 0.73 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas sank 0.72 percent, CITIC rose 0.50 percent, Henderson Land improved 0.47 percent, BOC Hong Kong collected 0.43 percent, China Life Insurance slid 0.36 percent, China Mengniu Dairy increased 0.32 percent, Ping An Insurance was up 0.05 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Resources Land and Sands China were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as stocks opened higher on Monday and stayed firmly in the green throughout the session, cutting into last week's heavy losses.
The Dow climbed 229.29 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 30,211.91, while the NASDAQ spiked 332.70 points or 2.55 percent to end at 13,403.39 and the S&P 500 gained 59.62 points or 1.61 percent to close at 3,773.86.
The rebound on Wall Street came as traders looked to pick up stocks at somewhat reduced levels after the markets saw their biggest weekly decline since October.
Traders continued to keep an eye on heavily-shorted stocks like GameStop (GME) and AMC Entertainment, which have seen considerable volatility amid speculative trading by retail investors. Share of GameStop plunged by 30.8 percent on the day, while shares of AMC edged up by 0.3 percent after seeing early strength.
In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said the pace of growth in U.S. manufacturing activity slowed more than expected in January. Also, the Commerce Department said U.S. construction spending increased by slightly more than expected in December.
Crude oil futures ended sharply higher Monday on optimism about improved vaccination rollout and OPEC production cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March rose $1.35 or 2.6 percent at $53.55 a barrel.
Closer to home, Hong Kong will see December data for retail sales later today; in November, retail sales were down 4.7 percent on year.
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