Win Streak May Continue For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, accelerating almost 600 points or 3.6 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 16,750-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, with technology and energy stocks expected to lead the markets higher. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks, properties and energy companies.

For the day, the index rallied 239.85 points or 1.45 percent to finish at the daily high of 16,742.95 after moving as low as 16,424.79.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group accelerated 2.67 percent, while Alibaba Health Info increased 1.42 percent, ANTA Sports gathered 0.97 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 1.80 percent, China Mengniu Dairy rallied 2.26 percent, China Resources Land rose 0.98 percent, CITIC advanced 1.35 percent, CNOOC skyrocketed 5.85 percent, Country Garden improved 1.53 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical climbed 1.59 percent, Galaxy Entertainment tumbled 1.77 percent, Hang Lung Properties picked up 0.12 percent, Henderson Land perked 0.68 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas sank 0.33 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.74 percent, JD.com gained 1.22 percent, Lenovo soared 3.27 percent, Li Ning spiked 3.12 percent, Meituan surged 3.57 percent, New World Development added 1.33 percent, Techtronic Industries stumbled 1.72 percent, Xiaomi Corporation was up 0.30 percent and WuXi Biologics strengthened 1.77 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is strong as the major averages opened higher and continued to climb as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 456.87 points or 1.18 percent to finish at 39,069.11, while the NASDAQ soared 460.72 points or 2.96 percent to end at 16,041.62 and the S&P 500 rallied 105.23 points or 2.11 percent to close at 5,087.03.

The rally on Wall Street largely reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA), with the chipmaker spiking by 16.4 percent to a record closing high.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department reported an unexpected dip in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week. Also, the National Association of Realtors noted a big rebound in existing home sales in January.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday as rising tensions in the Middle East raised the possibility of a near-term supply disruption. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for April added $0.70 or 0.9 percent at $78.61 a barrel.