Additional Support Anticipated For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 370 points or 2.2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 16,540-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly positive on increased optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished slightly higher on Wednesday following a mixed picture from the technology stocks and weakness from the property sector.

For the day, the index perked 13.59 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 16,543.07 after trading between 16,430.12 and 16,654.08.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group and China Life Insurance both gathered 0.21 percent, while Alibaba Health Info gained 0.59 percent, ANTA Sports spiked 1.99 percent, China Mengniu Dairy advanced 1.06 percent, China Resources Land added 0.62 percent, CITIC fell 0.13 percent, CNOOC surged 2.03 percent, Country Garden climbed 1.10 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical lost 0.16 percent, ENN Energy jumped 1.80 percent, Galaxy Entertainment tumbled 1.13 percent, Haier Smart Home sank 0.43 percent, Hang Lung Properties tanked 1.42 percent, Henderson Land retreated 1.12 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rallied 1.87 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.26 percent, JD.com rose 0.28 percent, Lenovo eased 0.11 percent, Li Ning skyrocketed 5.67 percent, Meituan dropped 0.45 percent, New World Development plunged 2.00 percent, Techtronic Industries slumped 0.78 percent, Xiaomi Corporation plummeted 2.42 percent and WuXi Biologics was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages opened flat on Wednesday and spent most of the day that way before a late surge boosted them firmly into the green and to record closing highs.

The Dow surged 401.37 points or 1.03 percent to finish at 39,512.13, while the NASDAQ rallied 202.62 points or 1.25 percent to end at 16,369.41 and the S&P 500 gained 46.11 points or 0.89 percent to close at 5,224.62.

The rally on Wall Street came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged but also maintained its forecast for three rate cuts this year - which had been in some doubt.

The Fed said it again maintained the target range for the federal funds rate at 5.25 to 5.50 percent, but the latest projections suggest Fed officials expect rates to be lowered to a range of 4.50 to 4.75 percent by the end of 2024.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday as traders chose to take some profits following recent gains, while a firm dollar also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April slumped $1.79 or 2.1 percent at $81.68 a barrel.