Hang Seng Tipped To Open To The Upside On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, gathering more than 750 points or 3 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 25,610-point plateau and it's called higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on continued optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to at least open in similar fashion, although profit taking may be in order later in the day.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Wednesday with gains across the board, especially among the financial shares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index surged 643.99 points or 2.58 percent to finish at the daily high of 25,613.67 after trading as low as 25,176.52.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group surged 6.09 percent, while Alibaba Health Info soared 4.68 percent, ANTA Sports perked 0.22 percent, China Life Insurance and Haier Smart Home both gained 0.71 percent, China Mengniu Dairy rose 1.64 percent, China Resources Land advanced 2.38 percent, CITIC added 1.36 percent, CNOOC increased 1.17 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical skyrocketed 6.77 percent, Galaxy Entertainment stumbled 2.09 percent, Hang Lung Properties was up 0.62 percent, Henderson Land improved 1.99 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rose 1.12 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.98 percent, JD.com jumped 3.83 percent, Lenovo climbed 2.67 percent, Li Auto strengthened 3.30 percent, Li Ning and Hengan International both increased 1.92 percent, Meituan rallied 4.10 percent, New World Development added 1.85 percent, Nongfu Spring gained 1.79 percent, Techtronic Industries spiked 4.51 percent, Xiaomi Corporation expanded 3.00 percent and WuXi Biologics accelerated 4.19 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and largely spent the day in positive territory.

The Dow surged 463.66 points or 1.04 percent to finish at 44,922.27, while the NASDAQ added 31.24 points or 0.14 percent to close at a record 21,713.14 and the S&P 500 rose 20.82 points or 0.32 percent to end at 6,466.58, also a record.

The early strength on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from optimism about an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve following Tuesday's consumer price inflation data.

With the consumer price inflation data largely coming in line with economist estimates, the Fed is widely expected to lower rates by a least a quarter point next month.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 93.8 percent chance the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points in September.

Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday after the International Energy Agency projected oversupply in the market this year due to surging supply from oil producers. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $0.55 or 0.87 percent at $62.62 per barrel.