Hong Kong Stock Market Poised For Additional Strength

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, improving more than 300 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Hang Seng now sits just above the 24,280-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat thanks to softening oil prices and treasury yields. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the technology stocks and semiconductors, although the financials and properties were soft.

For the day, the index advanced 240.22 points or 1.00 percent to finish at 24,280.56 after trading between 24,179.38 and 24,354.11.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened modestly higher on Tuesday and stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow climbed 253.38 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 51,521.28, while the NASDAQ added 122.48 points or 0.45 percent to close at a record 27,599.79 and the S&P 500 gained 44.98 points or 0.58 percent to end at 7,818.93, also a record.

The early strength on Wall Street came amid a pullback by treasury yields, which retreated after recently surging to multi-decade highs.

Traders were also looking ahead to the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting later. The minutes may shed additional light on Fed officials' thinking ahead of the central bank's next interest rate decision later this month.

In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Commerce Department showed the U.S. trade deficit widened by more than expected in the month of August.

Crude oil prices came off of early lows but still ticked lower on Tuesday following reports that Middle East crude exports are recovering back up toward pre-war levels. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery dipped $0.18 or 0.2 percent at $89.25 a barrel.