Ahead of Wednesday’s National Day holiday, the Hong Kong stock market has climbed higher in three straight sessions, advancing almost 880 points or 3.1 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 28,600-point plateau although investors figure to cash in on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growing concerns over rising inflation and the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.
The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financials, properties, casinos and oil and technology stocks.
For the day, the index spiked 399.72 points or 1.42 percent to finish at 28,593.81 after trading between 28,438.03 and 28,617.34.
Among the actives, AAC Technologies skyrocketed 5.26 percent, while AIA Group climbed 0.78 percent, Alibaba Group increased 1.07 percent, Alibaba Health Info perked 1.17 percent, ANTA Sports lost 0.49 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.76 percent, China Mengniu Dairy jumped 1.02 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) surged 4.43 percent, China Resources Land soared 3.25 percent, CITIC accelerated 3.13 percent, CNOOC spiked 3.16 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical rallied 2.57 percent, Galaxy Entertainment advanced 1.04 percent, Hang Lung Properties rose 1.34 percent, Henderson Land gained 1.58 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China both collected 1.21 percent, Longfor added 1.86 percent, Meituan climbed 2.28 percent, New World Development improved 1.73 percent, Sands China increased 0.90 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties jumped 2.53 percent, Techtronic Industries advanced 1.93 percent, Xiaomi Corporation rose 1.72 percent and WuXi Biologics gained 1.85 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as stocks opened firmly in the red on Wednesday, pared some of the losses but still ended in negative territory.
The Dow shed 164.62 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 33,896.04, while the NASDAQ eased 3.90 points or 0.03 percent to end at 13,299.74 and the S&P 500 fell 12.15 points or 0.29 percent to close at 4,115.68.
The lower open on Wall Street preceded the release of minutes from the FOMC’s latest meeting, which showed that members debated whether or not increasing inflation may be more than “transitory.”
The minutes also showed that the central bank may start to discuss when to start rolling back asset purchases, especially as the country continues to make headway against Covid-19.
The European Central Bank could decide to scale back its emergency bond-buying program as early as next month.
Crude oil prices declined sharply on Wednesday, weighed down by an increase in U.S. crude stockpiles, and on worries about outlook for energy demand from Asian countries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended down $2.13 or 3.3 percent at $63.36 a barrel.
Closer to home, Hong Kong will see unemployment figures for April later today; in March, the jobless rate was 6.8 percent.
Market Analysis
Hong Kong Stock Market Due For Consolidation
2021-05-20 01:15:07
