Additional Support Anticipated For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day slide in which it had slumped more than 750 points or 3.8 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 19,770-point plateau and it's looking at another firm start again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on easing fears of a worldwide economic slowdown. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian markets are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the property stocks and a mixed picture from the technology companies.

For the day, the index gained 77.88 points or 0.40 percent to finish at 19,767.09 after trading between 19,685.48 and 19,921.91.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group surged 3.79 percent, while Country Garden Services plummeted 3.71 percent, JD.com soared 2.19 percent, China Resources Land plunged 1.90 percent, Lenovo Group tanked 1.85 percent, Henderson Land spiked 1.31 percent, Li Ning accelerated 1.24 percent, Galaxy Entertainment jumped 1.20 percent, Longfor tumbled 1.18 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China declined 0.98 percent, CITIC strengthened 0.97 percent, WuXi Biologics climbed 0.91 percent, CNOOC retreated 0.82 percent, China Life slumped 0.71 percent, Meituan advanced 0.51 percent, Alibaba Health Information skidded 0.44 percent, Techtronic Industries dropped 0.40 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical sank 0.37 percent, ANTA Sports shed 0.29 percent, New World Development added 0.19 percent, Xiaomi Corporation lost 0.17 percent, China Mengniu Dairy rose 0.14 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas eased 0.12 percent and China Petroleum & Chemical (Sinopec) and Hang Lung Properties were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened firmly in the green and accelerated as the session progressed.

The Dow surged 416.33 points or 1.29 percent to finish at 32,812.50, while the NASDAQ spiked 319.40 points or 2.59 percent to end at 12,668.16 and the S&P 500 sank 63.98 points or 1.56 percent to close at 4,155.17.

The rebound on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to some upbeat U.S. economic data, which helped ease concerns about a recession.

The Institute for Supply Management noted an unexpected acceleration in the pace of growth in U.S. services sector activity in July. Also, the Commerce Department saw a sharp increase in new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in June.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Wednesday after data showed an unexpected surge in U.S. crude inventories last week. The dollar's strength after hawkish comments from a few Fed officials also weighed on oil prices.

Also, OPEC+ agreed to a tiny increase in output next month amid fears that a global recession will crimp demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for September sank $3.76 or 4 percent at $90.66 a barrel.