Hong Kong Shares Poised To Open In The Green

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, accelerating almost 480 points or 4 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 17,660-point plateau and it has a positive lead again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism over the outlook for interest rates and easing bond yields. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial hares, property stocks and technology companies.

For the day, the index advanced 147.33 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 17,664.73 after trading between 17,638.01 and 17,916.62.

Among the actives, Country Garden plummeted 4.48 percent, while Meituan surged 3.12 percent, Xiaomi Corporation soared 2.85 percent, Lenovo Group spiked 2.78 percent, Henderson Land accelerated 2.22 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rallied 2.01 percent, Techtronic Industries jumped 1.98 percent, Galaxy Entertainment strengthened 1.76 percent, Alibaba Group climbed 1.58 percent, JD.com advanced 1.41 percent, New World Development improved 0.94 percent, CNOOC increased 0.90 percent, ENN Energy sank 0.86 percent, China Life collected 0.85 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China added 0.82 percent, Haier Smart Home gained 0.65 percent, ANTA Sports rose 0.59 percent, China Mengniu Dairy lost 0.58 percent, CITIC gathered 0.58 percent, China Resource Land improved 0.50 percent, Li Ning added 0.47 percent, Alibaba Health Information gained 0.42 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical rose 0.36 percent, WuXi fell 0.33 percent and Hang Lung Properties perked 0.19 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday and accelerated as the day progressed, although late profit taking saw them end well off session highs.

The Dow climbed 134.65 points or 0.40 percent to finish at 33,739.30, while the NASDAQ gained 78.60 points or 0.58 percent to close at 13,562.84 and the S&P 500 added 22.58 points or 0.52 percent to end at 4,358.24.

Despite concerns about the ongoing war in the Middle East, the mood on Wall Street was fairly positive as dovish comments from some Federal Reserve officials lowered expectations for further interest rate hikes and pushed down bond yields.

In economic news, the International Monetary Fund downgraded its global growth forecast for next year, saying the projections are weakest in decades, while the likelihood of a soft-landing has increased with growing divergences amid modestly easing inflationary pressures.

Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday as traders assessed the likely impact of potential supply disruptions due to the ongoing war in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November shed $0.41 or 0.5 percent at $85.97 a barrel.