Hong Kong Stock Market Expected To Open In The Green

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Thursday ended the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 300 points or 1.8 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 17,230-point plateau and the market may accelerate higher on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on rising optimism about the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the technology stocks and mixed performances from the financial shares and properties.

For the day, the index advanced 128.81 points or 0.75 percent to finish at 17,230.59 after trading between 17,176.01 and 17,459.43.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group improved 1.13 percent, while Alibaba Health Info rallied 1.74 percent, ANTA Sports gained 0.45 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.19 percent, China Mengniu Dairy shed 0.58 percent, China Resources Land dipped 0.17 percent, CITIC jumped 1.66 percent, CNOOC added 0.47 percent, Country Garden fell 0.29 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical rose 0.44 percent, Galaxy Entertainment sank 0.91 percent, Hang Lung Properties climbed 1.14 percent, Henderson Land soared 4.62 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas and CK Infrastructure both strengthened 1.65 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 0.53 percent, JD.com increased 0.66 percent, Lenovo spiked 3.91 percent, Li Ning accelerated 3.19 percent, Meituan dropped 0.92 percent, New World Development advanced 0.95 percent, Techtronic Industries gathered 0.35 percent, Xiaomi Corporation skyrocketed 6.05 percent, WuXi Biologics tumbled 1.88 percent and Hengan International and Nongfu Spring were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and accelerated as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 564.50 points or 1.70 percent to finish at 33,839.08, while the NASDAQ jumped 232.72 points or 1.78 percent to end at 13,294.19 and the S&P 500 rallied 79.92 points of 1.89 percent to close at 4,317.78.

The rally on Wall Street came on optimism about the outlook for interest rates following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed left rates unchanged for the third time in the past four meetings, suggesting the central bank is done raising interest rates.

Treasury yields moved notably lower Wednesday and showed another significant move to the downside today, adding to the buying interest.

Traders will look now to the Labor Department's closely watched employment report for the month of October, due out later today.

Crude oil futures climbed higher Thursday as the dollar weakened on bets the Federal Reserve is done with its rate hiking cycle. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December rallied $2.02 or 2.5 percent at $82.46 a barrel.