The Hong Kong stock market has climbed higher in two straight sessions, collecting more than 230 points or 1.4 percent in that span. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 17,240-point plateau and it\'s likely to be stuck in neutral on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is a holding pattern ahead of Wednesday\'s FOMC rate decision and announcement. The European and U.S. markets ended mixed and flat and the Asian bourses are likely to follow suit.
The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the oil, technology and financial sectors, while the properties were mixed.
For the day, the index rallied 217.03 points or 1.28 percent to finish at 17,238.34 after trading between 17,154.12 and 17,358.66.
Among the actives, Alibaba Group skyrocketed 4.72 percent, while Alibaba Health Info skidded 1.23 percent, ANTA Sports perked 0.07 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.76 percent, China Mengniu Dairy dropped 0.88 percent, China Resources Land sank 0.83 percent, CITIC rallied 1.55 percent, CNOOC soared 3.52 percent, Country Garden slumped 1.92 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical lost 0.52 percent, Haier Smart Home tumbled 2.30 percent, Hang Lung Properties climbed 0.79 percent, Henderson Land gained 0.45 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas accelerated 1.89 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Lenovo Group both jumped 1.62 percent, JD.com strengthened 1.37 percent, Li Ning shed 0.82 percent, Meituan advanced 0.74 percent, New World Development added 0.55 percent, Techtronic Industries surged 3.73 percent, Xiaomi Corporation spiked 2.81 percent and WuXi Biologics and Galaxy Entertainment were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Monday and hugged the line for most of the day, finally ending mixed and little changed.
The Dow shed 49.41 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 40,539.93, while the NASDAQ added 12.32 points or 0.07 percent to close at 17,370.20 and the S&P 500 rose 4.44 points or 0.08 percent to end at 5,463.54.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve\'s monetary policy meeting this week.
While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will be looking to the accompanying statement for additional clues about a possible rate cut in September.
Investors are also waiting for corporate earnings this week from companies that include Microsoft (MSFT), Meta Platforms (META), Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN).
Crude oil prices fell to a seven-week low on Monday amid concerns about the outlook for demand from China, and ahead of Thursday\'s OPEC meeting. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended down $1.35 or 1.8 percent at $75.81 a barrel.