Hong Kong Stocks End Lower

Shares in Hong Kong and Shanghai fell on Tuesday with technology firms hit by profit taking after the previous day's strong rally, while energy companies dropped with oil prices.

The Hang Seng Index slipped 0.4 percent, or 104 points, to 26,786. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.9 percent, or 25 points, to 2,954, and the Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, shed 0.9 percent, or 15 points, to 1,642.

Shares elsewhere in the region mostly rose, taking up the baton after a record close on Wall Street, with investors filled with a renewed sense of hope over China-US talks.

Expectations for another Federal Reserve interest rate cut this week and a strong corporate reporting season were also providing a much-needed lift to confidence after a rollercoaster year on global trading floors.

US President Donald Trump reinforced optimism that the world's economic superpowers are on track to resolve their tariffs war by saying the two sides were "ahead of schedule" on the first phase of a wider deal, and he hoped to sign it with Xi Jinping next month.

Tokyo rose 0.5 percent, Singapore jumped 0.4 percent and Sydney put on 0.1 percent. Wellington, Taipei, Manila and Bangkok were also up, with Mumbai rallying more than one percent on hopes for earnings.

"It looks as if we've pretty much hit the bottom in some sectors and we should actually be near an inflection point," Margie Patel at Wells Fargo Asset Management told Bloomberg TV.

"We've had the Fed cutting rates pretty much all of this year. It takes a while for that to feed into the economy. I think the worst is pretty much behind us", she added.