Hong Kong Shares Poised To Open To The Upside

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market bounced higher again on Wednesday, one session after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had rallied almost 550 points or 2.2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 25,900-point plateau and it's likely to see a strong start again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on news of the two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran - although the Asian markets have already reacted to this news, so the upside may be more measured than the spikes in the European and U.S. markets.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Wednesday as the financial shares, properties and technology stocks were mostly in the green.

For the day, the index surged 776.49 points or 3.09 percent to finish at 25,893.02 after trading between 25,668.67 and 25,934.18.

Among the actives, AIA advanced 2.90 percent, while Alibaba Group soared 6.75 percent, Baidu increased 2.57 percent, Bank of China dropped 0.99 percent, BOC Hong Kong gathered 1.30 percent, China Construction Bank collected 0.71 percent, China Life Insurance strengthened 5.04 percent, China Mobile perked 1.12 percent, China Petroleum & Chemical improved 2.83 percent, China Shenhua Energy tanked 2.06 percent, CITIC added 2.77 percent, CNOOC plunged 3.33 percent, Hong Kong Exchange vaulted 4.14 percent, HSBC spiked 6.62 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China retreated 1.58 percent, JD.com elevated 3.63 percent, Meituan skyrocketed 10.28 percent, NetEase rose 2.17 percent, Nongfu Spring gained 2.44 percent, PetroChina tumbled 1.95 percent, Ping An Insurance climbed 3.65 percent, Semiconductor Manufacturing surged 10.10 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties rallied 5.57 percent, Tencent Holdings expanded 3.84 percent, Xiaomi Corporation accelerated 6.09 percent, WuXi AppTec fell 0.24 percent, Zijin Mining jumped 5.27 percent and China Merchants Bank was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened sharply higher and stayed that way throughout the trading day, ending at session highs.

The Dow surged 1,325.46 points or 2.85 percent to finish at 47,909.92, while the NASDAQ rallied 617.14 points or 2.80 percent to end at 22,634.99 and the S&P 500 jumped 165.96 points or 2.51 percent to close at 6,782.81.

The initial surge on Wall Street came in reaction to news that the U.S., Israel and Iran have agreed to a two-week ceasefire.

President Donald Trump said he has agreed to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for two weeks subject to Tehran agreeing to the complete and immediate opening of the Strait of Hormuz.

A subsequent statement from Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi indicated the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened for a period of two weeks if the attacks against Iran are halted.

Crude oil prices went into a tailspin Wednesday as supply-disruption risks dissipated following a two-week ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was down $18.15 or 16.07 percent at $94.80 per barrel.