Hong Kong Bourse May Add To Its Winnings On Wednesday

(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 480 points or 2.7 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 19,430-point plateau and it's tipped to see additional support on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic ahead of the FOMC rate decision later today. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Tuesday with gains across the board, especially among the financials, properties and technology stocks. For the day, the index surged 766.25 points or 4.10 percent to finish at 19,434.40 after trading between 19,111.82 and 19,465.27.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group spiked 5.88 percent, while Alibaba Health Info jumped 4.75 percent, ANTA Sports strengthened 5.88 percent, China Life Insurance surged 8.21 percent, China Mengniu Dairy improved 2.60 percent, China Resources Land surged 10.55 percent, CITIC rallied 5.14 percent, CNOOC increased 2.32 percent, Country Garden skyrocketed 26.45 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical added 1.91 percent, Galaxy Entertainment was up 0.66 percent, Hang Lung Properties jumped 4.50 percent, Henderson Land climbed 3.08 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rose 1.57 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 2.79 percent, JD.com soared 7.71 percent, Lenovo gained 1.66 percent, Li Ning spiked 5.82 percent, Meituan soared 7.84 percent, New World Development rallied 5.09 percent, Techtronic Industries gathered 1.20 percent, Xiaomi Corporation strengthened 4.17 percent and WuXi Biologics advanced 2.84 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened flat on Tuesday but moved generally higher as the day progressed and ended in the green.

The Dow added 26.83 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 35,438.07, while the NASDAQ climbed 85.69 points or 0.61 percent to close at 14,144.56 and the S&P 500 rose 12.82 points or 0.28 percent to end at 4,567.46.

The higher close on Wall Street reflected a positive reaction to the latest batch of earnings news from big-name companies such as 3M (MMM), chemical giant Dow Inc. (DOW) and General Electric (GE).

Traders also remain optimistic about the Federal Reserve wrapping up its recent series of interest rate hikes ahead of today's monetary policy decision. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points, but traders are hopeful the rate hike will be the last following recent encouraging inflation data.

In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board released a report showing U.S. consumer confidence improved more than expected in July.

Crude oil futures settled notably higher Tuesday on optimism about increased Chinese demand after policymakers pledged support to shore up growth in the world's second largest economy. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September gained $0.89 or 1.1 percent at $79.63 a barrel, the highest settlement since mid-April.