Hong Kong Stock Market Poised To Open In The Green

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has climbed higher in back-to-back sessions, gaining more than 400 points or 1.6 percent in that span. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 25,870-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside ahead of the U.S. monetary policy announcement later today. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index improved 34.52 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 25,868.54 after trading between 25,844.95 and 26,250.14.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group and Xiaomi Corporation both advanced 0.45 percent, while Alibaba Health Info gained 0.20 percent, ANTA Sports vaulted 1.59 percent, China Life Insurance strengthened 1.20 percent, China Mengniu Dairy dropped 0.60 percent, China Resources Land jumped 1.90 percent, CITIC lost 0.35 percent, CNOOC tumbled 2.17 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical expanded 0.89 percent, Galaxy Entertainment was up 0.22 percent, Haier Smart Home improved 0.24 percent, Hang Lung Properties rallied 1.64 percent, Henderson Land soared 2.38 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas slumped 1.09 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.93 percent, JD.com climbed 0.54 percent, Lenovo sank 0.52 percent, Li Auto accelerated 2.00 percent, Li Ning surged 3.58 percent, Meituan spiked 2.17 percent, New World Development tanked 2.13 percent, Nongfu Spring retreated 1.45 percent, Techtronic Industries shed 0.36 percent, WuXi Biologics added 0.23 percent and ENN Energy was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday and remained in the green throughout the day, although off session highs.

The Dow added 46.85 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 46,993.26, while the NASDAQ climbed 105.35 points or 0.47 percent to end at 22,479.53 and the S&P 500 added 16.71 points or 0.25 percent to close at 6,716.09.

The early strength on Wall Street came as traders attempted to shrug off the recent volatility shown by the price of crude oil, which has been a key driver of trading in recent sessions.

Crude oil prices surged Tuesday as Iran stepped up its attack on energy infrastructure in the Middle East in its war against the U.S. and Israel. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was up $2.57 or 2.75 percent at $96.07 per barrel.

The Israeli military also said it had begun a "wide-scale wave of strikes" across Iran's capital and was also stepping up strikes on Iran-backed Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

Traders were also reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will pay close attention to central bank officials' latest projections.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will release jobless date for February later today; in January, the unemployment rate was 3.9 percent.