Profit Taking Anticipated For Hong Kong Shares

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in six straight sessions, gaining more than 1,330 points or 5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 27,825-point plateau although it's due for consolidation on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft amid geopolitical concerns, although support from gold and oil figure to limit the downside. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Wednesday with gains across the board, especially among the technology companies.

For the day, the index surged 699.96 points or 2.58 percent to finish at the daily high of 27,826.91 after trading as low as 27,258.10.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group gained 2.12 percent, while Alibaba Health Info expanded 2.70 percent, ANTA Sports stumbled 1.16 percent, China Life Insurance strengthened 3.17 percent, China Mengniu Dairy accelerated 3.76 percent, China Resources Land spiked 4.63 percent, CITIC improved 2.27 percent, CNOOC soared 4.85 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical skyrocketed 6.14 percent, Galaxy Entertainment perked 0.24 percent, Haier Smart Home slumped 0.93 percent, Hang Lung Properties vaulted 3.07 percent, Henderson Land jumped 3.57 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas gathered 1.79 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rallied 3.62 percent, JD.com climbed 2.47 percent, Lenovo and Xiaomi Corporation both added 2.14 percent, Li Auto surged 4.90 percent, Li Ning sank 0.30 percent, Meituan rose 1.86 percent, New World Development dropped 0.67 percent, Nongfu Spring increased 2.24 percent, Techtronic Industries advanced 2.29 percent and WuXi Biologics was up 0.47 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is of little help as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but tailed off and hugged the line, finishing mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 12.19 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 49,015.60, while the NASDAQ added 40.35 points or 0.17 percent to close at 23,857.45 and the S&P 500 dipped 0.57 points or 0.01 percent to end at 6,978.03.

The choppy trading on Wall Street continued after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged.

The Fed said the decision to keep rates steady came amid elevated uncertainty about the economic outlook. The central bank also said it remains attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate of maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the long run.

Despite the choppy trading by the broader markets, gold stocks moved sharply higher amid a continued surge by the price of the precious metal, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 2.7 percent to a new record closing high.

Crude oil prices soared on Wednesday as Iran rejected any nuclear talks under threat even as a massive U.S. armada nears the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $0.85 or 1.36 percent at $63.24 per barrel.