Higher Open Tipped For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Wednesday snapped the six-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 1,230 points or 6 percent. The Hang Seng now sits just above the 19,775-point plateau although it's got another upbeat lead for Thursday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with technology shares expected to fuel the rally. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Wednesday with damage across the board, especially among the property and technology companies.

For the day, the index stumbled 327.78 points or 1.63 percent to finish at 19,778.77 after trading between 19,733.21 and 20,022.34.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group tumbled 3.07 percent, while Alibaba Health Info crashed 4.31 percent, ANTA Sports dipped 1.16 percent, China Life Insurance weakened 2.14 percent, China Mengniu Dairy slumped 2.30 percent, China Resources Land dropped 2.11 percent, CITIC lost 1.59 percent, CNOOC slipped 1.06 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical fell 1.57 percent, Galaxy Entertainment declined 2.33 percent, Haier Smart Home and Hong Kong & China Gas skidded 2.13 percent, Hang Lung Properties eased 0.96 percent, Henderson Land slid 1.34 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China gave away 0.99 percent, JD.com cratered 4.29 percent, Lenovo retreated 2.76 percent, Li Auto surrendered 3.61 percent, Li Ning was down 1.02 percent, Meituan plunged 3.79 percent, New World Development plummeted 6.05 percent, Nongfu Spring tanked 3.63 percent, Techtronic Industries sank 2.07 percent, Xiaomi Corporation shed 1.67 percent and WuXi Biologics stumbled 3.08 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher and spent all day in the green, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 130.92 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 44,156.73, while the NASDAQ surged 252.56 points or 1.28 percent to close at 20,009.34 and the S&P 500 added 37.13 points or 0.61 percent to end at 6,086.37.

The strength on Wall Street came as investors reacted positively to upbeat earnings updates and corporate news, and on continued optimism about rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ was fueled by buoyant earnings and sales guidance by Netflix, as well as President Donald Trump's announcement of a $500 billion private-sector AI infrastructure investment plan involving Oracle, Open AI and Softbank.

Oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday, extending recent weakness on concerns about excess supply in the market due to the Trump administration's plan to maximize oil and gas production. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March fell $0.39 or 0.5 percent at $75.44 a barrel, extending losses to a fifth straight session.