Hong Kong Stock Market May Add To Its Winnings

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has tracked higher in two straight sessions, surging almost 1,300 points or 7 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 18,600-point plateau and it's got another solid lead for Thursday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets finished higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher again on Wednesday following gains from the financials, properties, technology stocks and oil companies.

For the day, the index rallied 392.55 points or 2.16 percent to finish at 18,597.23 after trading between 18,052.32 and 18,645.35.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group added 1.46 percent, while Alibaba Health Info spiked 4.75 percent, ANTA Sports rallied 3.71 percent, China Life Insurance collected 1.89 percent, China Mengniu Dairy soared 5.30 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) jumped 2.51 percent, China Resources Land rose 0.70 percent, CITIC rallied 2.57 percent, CNOOC perked 0.20 percent, Country Garden sank 0.93 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical improved 2.04 percent, Galaxy Entertainment climbed 2.30 percent, Hang Lung Properties surged6.84 percent, Henderson Land soared 5.76 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas gathered 0.61 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China gained 0.77 percent, JD.com accelerated 3.80 percent, Lenovo advanced 2.17 percent, Li Ning surged 5.79 percent, Longfor increased 1.95 percent, Meituan spiked5.28 percent, New World Development fell 0.22 percent, Techtronic Industries rallied 4.39 percent, Xiaomi Corporation jumped 3.51 percent and WuXi Biologics strengthened 2.45 percent.

The lead from Wall Street ends up sharply positive as the major averages opened fairly flat and stayed that way before exploding higher late in the day.

The Dow surged 737.24 points or 2.18 percent to finish at 34,589.77, while the NASDAQ soared 484.22 points or 4.41 percent to end at 11,468.00 and the S&P 500 rallied 122.48 points or 3.09 percent to close at 4,080.11.

The rally on Wall Street came as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's remarks provided further evidence the central bank plans to slow its aggressive pace of interest rate hikes as soon as next month.

The Fed's next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for December 13-14, with CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicating a 77.0 percent chance of a 50-basis point rate hike and a 23.0 percent chance of a fifth straight 75-basis point rate hike.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP noted slower than expected private sector job growth in November, while the Commerce Department reported an unexpected upward revision to GDP growth in the third quarter.

Crude oil futures surged on Wednesday after data showed a steep drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. Expectations of increased demand from China and a weaker dollar also contributed to the jump in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $2.35 or 3 percent at $80.55 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide October data for retail sales later today; in September, sales were down 1.5 percent on year.