Hang Seng Likely To Remain Rangebound On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last seven trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had rallied more than 820 points or 3.9 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 22,950-point plateau although it may tick higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets murky on an uncertain outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were slightly up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished slightly lower on Wednesday following weakness from the financial shares and properties, while the technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index lost 32.57 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 22,944.24 after trading between 22,649.49 and 22,975.34.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group tanked 1.74 percent, while Alibaba Health Info stumbled 1.20 percent, ANTA Sports dropped 0.82 percent, China Life Insurance skidded 1.06 percent, China Mengniu Dairy skyrocketed 10.36 percent, CITIC dipped 0.21 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical climbed 1.04 percent, Galaxy Entertainment lost 0.34 percent, Haier Smart Home plunged 2.30 percent, Hang Lung Properties ad CLP Holdings both fell 0.31 percent, Henderson Land shed 0.47 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas sank 0.65 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China tumbled 1.58 percent, JD.com retreated 1.53 percent, Lenovo rose 0.16 percent, Li Auto jumped 1.65 percent, Li Ning rallied 1.35 percent, Meituan plummeted 3.01 percent, New World Development surged 3.35 percent, Nongfu Spring slumped 1.14 percent, Techtronic Industries advanced 0.57 percent, Xiaomi Corporation spiked 2.17 percent, WuXi Biologics added 0.41 percent and China Resources Land and CNOOC were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday but trended upward throughout the day, finally ending mildly to the upside.

The Dow gained 71.25 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 44,627.59, while the NASDAQ rose 14.99 points or 0.07 percent to close at 20,056.25 and the S&P 500 perked 14.57 points or 0.24 percent to end at 6,144.15.

The rebound also came even though the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting revealed that officials want to see further progress on inflation before they consider resuming lowering interest rates.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said housing starts pulled back by more than expected in January.

Oil futures settled higher Wednesday, extending gains from previous session amid concerns about the outlook for supplies after a recent drone attack by Ukraine on a Russian pumping station. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March rose $0.40 or 0.56 percent at $72.25 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will release January numbers for consumer prices later today; in December, overall inflation was up 0.1 percent on month and 1.4 percent on year.