(fxcue news) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had dropped almost 180 points or 1 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 17,800-point plateau although it's expected to see renewed selling pressure on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with profit taking expected following recent optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference. The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the technology stocks, properties and utilities. For the day, the index rallied 186.63 points or 1.06 percent to finish at 17,798.73 after trading between 17,709.27 and 17,826.05. Among the actives, Alibaba Group increased 0.79 percent, while Alibaba Health Info lost 0.34 percent, ANTA Sports rallied 3.48 percent, China Life Insurance collected 1.10 percent, China Resources Land jumped 1.62 percent, CITIC advanced 1.21 percent, CNOOC improved 1.22 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical accelerated 2.33 percent, Galaxy Entertainment gained 0.65 percent, Hang Lung Properties soared 3.94 percent, Henderson Land and New World Development both spiked 2.84 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rose 0.48 percent, JD.com fell 0.28 percent, Lenovo strengthened 1.51 percent, Li Auto dropped 0.90 percent, Li Ning was up 0.42 percent, Meituan climbed 1.40 percent, Techtronic Industries added 0.67 percent, Xiaomi Corporation sank 0.53 percent, WuXi Biologics surged 6.82 percent and China Mengniu Dairy, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Haier Smart Home and Hengan International Group were unchanged. The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened slightly higher on Monday but quickly headed south, eventually all ending under water. The Dow dipped 0.02 points or 0.00 percent to finish at 41,175.08, while the NASDAQ sank 152.03 points or 0.85 percent to close at 17,725.77 and the S&P 500 lost 17.77 points or 0.32 percent to end at 5,616.84. The Dow found mild support from 3M Co. (MMM), Coca-Cola (KO) and Walt Disney (DIS). On the other hand, substantial weakness among semiconductor stocks weighed on the NASDAQ, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunging by 2.5 percent. Within the semiconductor sector, AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) slumped by 2.3 percent ahead of the release of its fiscal second quarter results on Wednesday. On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report showing a sharp increase by new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in July. The price of crude oil moved sharply higher on Monday, extending recent gains amid renewed geopolitical concerns after Hezbollah and Israeli forces exchanged attacks across the Lebanon-Israel border. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery shot up $2.36 or 3.2 percent to $77.19 a barrel. Closer to home, Hong Kong will release July figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In June, imports were up 9.0 percent on month and exports jumped 10.7 percent for a trade deficit of 55.7 billion HKD.