Higher Open Predicted For Hong Kong Stock Market

The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in three straight sessions, gathering more than 480 points or 1.8 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 26,660-point plateau and it’s looking at another green light for Thursday’s trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on rising oil prices and optimism on the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Wednesday as gains from the financials, properties and casinos were capped by weakness from the technology shares.

For the day, the index gained 54.54 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 26,660.16 after trading between 26,454.45 and 26,822.47.

Among the actives, AAC Technologies tumbled 1.46 percent, while AIA Group added 0.48 percent, Alibaba Group retreated 0.88 percent, Alibaba Health Info climbed 1.11 percent, ANTA Sports tanked 1.63 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.77 percent, China Mengniu Dairy skidded 1.35 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) accelerated 1.96 percent, China Resources Land skyrocketed 7.30 percent, CITIC rose 0.24 percent, CNOOC advanced 0.87 percent, Country Garden soared 4.13 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical perked 0.91 percent, Galaxy Entertainment shed 0.71 percent, Hang Lung Properties jumped 1.21 percent, Henderson Land improved 0.14 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas fell 0.16 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China spiked 2.55 percent, Longfor surged 6.88 percent, Meituan dropped 0.75 percent, New World Development gained 0.41 percent, Sands China sank 0.76 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties gathered 1.00 percent, Techtronic Industries lost 0.21 percent, Xiaomi Corporation plunged 2.19 percent and WuXi Biologics plummeted 3.14 percent.

The lead from Wall Street has been mixed all week and Wednesday was no exception. All three of the major averages opened to the upside and the Dow and S&P stayed that way to hit fresh record closing highs; the NASDAQ quickly headed south and finished in the red.

The Dow jumped 220.30 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 35,484.97, while the NASDAQ dipped 22.95 points or 0.16 percent to close at 14,765.13 and the S&P rose 10.95 points or 0.25 percent to end at 4,447.70.

The mixed performance came after the Labor Department’s highly anticipated inflation reading was not bad as some had feared, slowing to 0.5 percent from 0.9 percent in June – suggesting that the central bank may not be in a hurry to scale back stimulus.

The recent resurgence in coronavirus cases may also weigh on the economy, leading the Fed to put off tapering plans and allowing stocks to continue to climb to record highs.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Wednesday, recovering well after an early setback, after the Biden administration said it would not ask U.S. oil producers to hike output. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up $0.96 or 1.4 percent at $69.25 a barrel.