Further Upside Seen For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, collecting more than 400 points or 2.1 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 19,300-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive as U.S. inflation data eased concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets finished solidly higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Wednesday following mixed performances from the financial, oil, technology and property companies.

For the day, the index gained 66.20 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 19,286.07 after trading between 19,149.94 and 19,319.22.

Among the actives, Alibaba Health Info tumbled 1.80 percent, while ANTA Sports dipped 0.32 percent, China Life Insurance shed 0.45 percent, China Mengniu Dairy plunged 2.11 percent, China Resources Land jumped 1.59 percent, CITIC sank 0.48 percent, CNOOC rose 0.10 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical dropped 0.69 percent, Galaxy Entertainment retreated 1.38 percent, Haier Smart Home tanked 1.99 percent, Henderson Land advanced 0.93 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas fell 0.34 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China climbed 1.02 percent, JD.com added 0.88 percent, Lenovo declined 1.08 percent, Li Auto plummeted 3.12 percent, Li Ning rallied 1.07 percent, Meituan gained 0.14 percent, New World Development spiked 2.87 percent, Techtronic Industries surged 2.93 percent, Xiaomi Corporation lost 0.44 percent, WuXi Biologics slumped 1.02 percent and Alibaba Group, Hang Lung Properties and Nongfu Spring were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened firmly higher and stayed that way throughout the session.

The Dow surged 703.27 points or 1.65 percent to finish at 43,221.55, while the NASDAQ rallied 466.84 points or 2.45 percent to close at 19,511.23 and the S&P 500 jumped 107.00 points or 1.83 percent to end at 5,949.91.

The rally on Wall Street was a positive reaction to the Labor Department's closely watched report on consumer price inflation in December. While the report showed consumer prices rose slightly more than expected in December, the annual rate of core consumer price growth unexpectedly slowed.

Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to upbeat earnings news from financial giants JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Citigroup (C).

Oil prices spiked Wednesday as crude inventories in the U.S. dropped last week, while possible supply disruptions due to new sanctions against Russia also supported prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February rose $2.54 or 3.3 percent at $80.04 a barrel.