Hong Kong Bourse Has Strong Lead For Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market headed south again on Wednesday, one day after ending the three-day losing streak in which it had fallen almost 260 points or 1.6 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 16,230-point plateau although it's predicted to move higher again on Thursday.

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

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the technology stocks and properties.

For the day, the index dropped 145.75 points or 0.89 percent to finish at 16,228.75 after trading between 16,145.25 and 16,326.95.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group slid 1.00 percent, while Alibaba Health Info dropped 1.65 percent, ANTA Sports and CK Infrastructure both tumbled 2.57 percent, China Life Insurance retreated 2.53 percent, China Mengniu Dairy slumped 2.12 percent, China Resources Land plummeted 3.16 percent, CITIC was down 0.69 percent, CNOOC plunged 2.90 percent, Country Garden sank 1.49 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical advanced 1.06 percent, Galaxy Entertainment rose 0.12 percent, Hang Lung Properties lost 1.32 percent, Henderson Land rallied 1.59 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dipped 0.74 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.82 percent, JD.com declined 2.39 percent, Lenovo climbed 1.43 percent, Li Ning skidded 1.68 percent, Meituan and Haier Smart Home both tanked 2.84 percent, New World Development fell 1.07 percent, Techtronic Industries shed 1.43 percent, Xiaomi Corporation soared 2.51 percent and WuXi Biologics stumbled 2.10 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages were flat for most of the day but surged in the afternoon following the Federal Reserve's rate decision.

The Dow surged 512.30 points or 1.40 percent to finish at a record 37,090.24, while the NASDAQ rallied 200.57 points or 1.38 percent to end at 14,733.96 and the S&P 500 gained 63.39 points or 1.37 percent to close at 4,707.09.

The surge on Wall Street came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged while also confirming plans to pivot to cutting rates next year.

The accompanying statement said the decision came as economic growth has slowed from its strong pace in the third quarter, while inflation has eased over the past year.

The projections provided by the Fed also suggest the central bank will begin cutting rates next year, with the median forecast indicating rates will be lowered to 4.6 percent by the end of 2024.

Oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday after data showed a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $0.86 or 1.3 percent at $69.47 a barrel.

Closer to home, The Hong Kong Monetary Authority will wrap up its monetary policy proceedings later today and announce its decision on interest rates; the HKMA is expected to keep its benchmark lending rate steady at 5.75 percent. Hong Kong also will see Q3 figures for producer prices and industrial production; in Q2, they were down 0.2 percent on year and up 2.7 percent on year.