Hong Kong Shares Tipped To Open In The Green

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Wednesday's holiday for Buddha's birthday, the Hong Kong stock market had ended the three-day winning streak in which hit had rallied almost 800 points or 4.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 19,075-point plateau although it's likely to move back to the upside again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on rising optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares and property stocks, while the technology shares were mixed.

For the day, the index lost 41.35 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 19,073.71 after trading between 19,072.64 and 19,301.13.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group spiked 1.85 percent, while Alibaba Health Info rose 0.31 percent, ANTA Sports lost 0.77 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 1.02 percent, China Mengniu Dairy skidded 1.06 percent, China Resources Land retreated 1.91 percent, CITIC slumped 1.31 percent, CNOOC tumbled 2.30 percent, Country Garden surrendered 2.17 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical declined 1.90 percent, Galaxy Entertainment plummeted 3.92 percent, Hang Lung Properties plunged 3.62 percent, Henderson Land sank 0.99 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas advanced 0.63 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China stumbled 1.54 percent, JD.com eased 0.15 percent, Lenovo rallied 0.79 percent, Li Ning added 0.47 percent, Meituan fell 0.33 percent, New World Development tanked 2.46 percent, Techtronic Industries shed 0.96 percent, Xiaomi Corporation surged 3.20 percent and WuXi Biologics soared 2.55 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is strong as the major averages opened higher and remained in the green throughout, finishing near daily highs.

The Dow rallied 349.89 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 39,908.00, while the NASDAQ spiked 231.21 points or 1.40 percent to close at 16,742.29 and the S&P 500 jumped 61.47 points or 1.17 percent to end at 5,308.15.

The rally on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. rose slightly less than expected in April.

Following Tuesday's hotter-than-expected producer price inflation data, the report added to recently renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

In other economic news, the Commerce Department said retail sales in the U.S. unexpectedly came in flat in April, versus forecasts for an increase of 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday, buoyed by soft inflation data and a report showing a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended up by $0.61 or 0.78 percent at $78.63 a barrel.