The Hong Kong stock market turned right back to the upside again on Tuesday, one session after it had ended the three-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 300 points or 1.3 percent. The Hang Seng Index finished just above the 22,730-point plateau, and now analysts are expecting little movement when the market opens on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed with a touch of downside thanks to persistent debt concerns in Europe and a mixed batch of economic news from the United States. Oil and gold stocks are expected to rise, while airlines and technology stocks are expected to ease. The European markets finished higher and the U.S. bourses ended lower, and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Hang Seng finished slightly higher on Tuesday as gains from the coal miners and telecoms was pared by weakness from the property sector.
For the day, the index collected 19.76 points or 0.1 percent to finish at 22,730.78 after trading between 22,631.13 and 22,754.45 on volume of 51.95 billion Hong Kong dollars.
Among the actives, China Mobile added 1.7 percent, while CNOOC jumped 1.1 percent, Shenhua surged 2.0 percent and China Resources Land shed 0.9 percent.
The lead from Wall Street suggests minor consolidation as stocks showed a lack of direction on Tuesday, with traders reluctant to make any significant moves following the previous day's selloff. The markets eventually ended the session on the downside, extending a recent downward trend.
The choppy trading came as early buying interest generated by an increase in commodities prices was offset by lingering concerns about European debt. News that Greece's main opposition leader will not support additional austerity measures added to the recent worries about the financial situation in Europe, which helped to drive the sell-off on Monday.
Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a report from the Commerce Department showing an unexpected increase in new home sales in the month of April. New home sales rose by 7.3 percent to an annual rate of 323,000 from the revised March rate of 301,000. Economists had expected new home sales to come in at an annual rate of 300,000, unchanged from the initial estimate.
A separate report from the Richmond Federal Reserve showed that its reading on regional manufacturing activity has turned negative for the first time since September. Manufacturing activity dropped to a negative 6 in May from a positive 10 in April, with a negative reading indicating a contraction in manufacturing activity. While the report from the Richmond Fed does not usually attract much attention, it comes on the heels of disappointing reports on manufacturing activity in both the New York and Philadelphia areas.
The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually finishing the day modestly lower. The Dow slipped 25.05 points or 0.2 percent to 12,356.21, the NASDAQ fell 12.74 points or 0.5 percent to 2,746.16 and the S&P 500 edged down 1.09 points or 0.1 percent to 1,316.28. Adding to the steep losses posted in the previous session, the major averages once again slipped to their worst closing levels in over a month.
In economic news, China's foreign currency reserve assets, excluding valuation and exchange rate adjustments, increased by 138 billion during the first quarter, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said on Tuesday. This compares with the foreign exchange reserves of $197.3 billion announced by the People's Bank of China. International reserve assets increased by $141.2 billion from the same quarter last year, the currency regulator said.
The current account surplus amounted to $29.8 billion during the March quarter, down 18 percent from a year ago. The goods account registered a trade surplus of $20.8 billion and the services account showed a deficit of $10.2 billion.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.