Profit Taking Expected For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has climbed higher in back-to-back sessions, surging more than 1,140 points or 8 percent in that span. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 15,825-point plateau although it's predicted to open under pressure on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation on concerns about the outlook for interest rates following the FOMC's rate decision. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financials, properties and oil companies, while the technology shares were mixed.

For the day, the index soared 371.90 points or 2.41 percent to finish at 15,827.17 after trading between 15,276.76 and 15,867.24.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group increased 1.97 percent, while Alibaba Health Info spiked 5.77 percent, ANTA Sports rallied 4.63 percent, China Life Insurance advanced 2.26 percent, China Mengniu Dairy accelerated 4.58 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) gained 1.57 percent, China Resources Land jumped 2.76 percent, CITIC added 1.69 percent, CNOOC improved 2.17 percent, Country Garden soared 12.18 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical surged 13.86 percent, Galaxy Entertainment surged 6.67 percent, Hang Lung Properties tumbled 1.31 percent, Henderson Land jumped 2.99 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas climbed 2.58 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 2.05 percent, JD.com strengthened 2.73 percent, Lenovo plummeted 4.91 percent, Li Ning soared 6.30 percent, Longfor skyrocketed 18.85 percent, Meituan accelerated 5.09 percent, New World Development was up 0.25 percent, Techtronic Industries dropped 1.02 percent, Xiaomi Corporation rose 1.19 percent and WuXi Biologics spiked 5.14 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages hugged the line for most of Wednesday's session but turned sharply lower after the FOMC decision.

The Dow plunged 505.44 points or 1.55 percent to finish at 32,147.76, while the NASDAQ tumbled 366.05 points or 3.36 percent to close at 10,524.80 and the S&P 500 slumped 96.41 points or 2.50 percent to end at 3,759.69.

The late-day volatility came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points in an effort to rein in inflation.

The Fed noted that future rate hikes will "take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments."

But comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell tamped down optimism about the outlook for interest rates: "It is very premature, in my view, to think about or be talking about pausing our rate hikes. We have a ways to go."

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday after data showed declines in crude and gasoline stockpiles in the U.S. last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December climbed $1.63 or 1.8 percent at $90.00 a barrel.