Win Streak May Continue For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, improving almost 1,130 points or 4.6 percent in that span. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 24,770-point plateau and it's tipped to open to the upside again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses moved higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index rose 30.57 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 24,771.14 after trading between 24,601.73 and 24,874.39.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group retreated 1.60 percent, while Alibaba Health Info improved 0.90 percent, ANTA Sports plummeted 3.93 percent, China Life Insurance fell 0.12 percent, China Mengniu Dairy surged 2.46 percent, China Resources Land tumbled 1.65 percent, CITIC declined 1.57 percent, CNOOC and Hang Lung Properties both gained 0.44 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical rallied 1.20 percent, Galaxy Entertainment jumped 1.66 percent, Haier Smart Home sank 0.73 percent, Henderson Land rose 0.43 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas spiked 1.85 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.35 percent, JD.com skidded 0.96 percent, Lenovo added 0.67 percent, Li Auto plunged 3.12 percent, Li Ning slumped 1.25 percent, Meituan dropped 0.79 percent, Nongfu Spring tanked 1.68 percent, Techtronic Industries advanced 0.92 percent, Xiaomi Corporation climbed 0.95 percent, WuXi Biologics soared 1.97 percent and New World Development was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened modestly higher on Wednesday but accelerated into the close, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 383.32 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 41,964.63, while the NASDAQ surged 246.67 points or 1.41 percent to close at 17,750.79 and the S&P 500 rallied 60.63 points or 1.08 percent to end at 5,675.29.

Stocks rallied early in the session and saw further upside following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. The Fed announced its widely expected decision to again leave interest rates unchanged but signaled that it is still likely to lower rates later this year.

Meanwhile, Fed officials lowered their projections for GDP growth in 2025 to 1.7 percent from 2.1 percent and raised their forecasts for consumer price growth this year to 2.7 percent from 2.5 percent.

Oil futures closed higher on Wednesday amid continued uncertainty about growth due to the impact of U.S. tariffs on some of its major trading partners. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $0.26 or 0.39 percent at $67.16 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide February numbers for consumer prices later today; in January, overall inflation was up 0.4 percent on month and 2.0 percent on year.