Hong Kong Shares May See Continued Strength On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in two straight sessions, advancing more than 330 points or 2 percent in that span. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 16,860-point plateau and it's expected to open in the green again on Friday.

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

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Thursday with gains across the board, especially among the utilities, properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index surged 320.03 points or 1.93 percent to finish at 16,863.10 after trading between 16,762.83 and 16,973.52.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group perked 1.82 percent, while Alibaba Health Info accelerated 3.81 percent, ANTA Sports jumped 3.53 percent, China Life Insurance increased 2.75 percent, China Mengniu Dairy climbed 2.99 percent, China Resources Land rallied 3.70 percent, CITIC added 2.63 percent, CNOOC moved up 0.77 percent, Country Garden collected 1.45 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical picked up 1.25 percent, Galaxy Entertainment spiked 3.82 percent, Haier Smart Home sank 0.43 percent, Hang Lung Properties advanced 2.64 percent, Henderson Land surged 4.55 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas skyrocketed 5.69 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Xiaomi Corporation both were up 1.79 percent, JD.com rose 2.34 percent, Lenovo improved 2.87 percent, Li Ning slumped 0.93 percent, Meituan soared 3.94 percent, New World Development gained 2.61 percent, Techtronic Industries strengthened 3.16 percent and WuXi Biologics gathered 2.01 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened modestly higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the session, ending at fresh record closing highs.

The Dow rallied 269.24 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 39,781.37, while the NASDAQ added 32.43 points or 0.20 percent to close at 16,401.84 and the S&P 500 gained 16.91 points or 0.32 percent to end at 5,241.53.

The early strength on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from positive reaction to Wednesday's monetary policy announcement by the Federal Reserve.

While the Fed left interest rates unchanged, as widely expected, the central bank also maintained its forecast for three interest rate cuts this year.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department noted a slight drop by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week. Also, the National Association of Realtors said existing home sales unexpectedly soared in February.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday, weighed down by a stronger dollar and weak gasoline demand in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May dipped $0.20 at $81.07 a barrel.