Soft Start Anticipated For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market on Wednesday wrote an emphatic finish to the six-day losing streak in which it had plummeted almost 1,100 points or 5.5 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 20,620-point plateau although it may head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on concerns about growth and the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Wednesday with gains across the board, particularly among the technology and property stocks.

For the day, the index skyrocketed 833.77 points or 4.21 percent to finish at 20,619.71 after trading between 19,849.97 and 20,674.07.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group surged 6.24 percent, while Alibaba Health Info skyrocketed 8.04 percent, ANTA Sports soared 6.09 percent, China Life Insurance spiked 6.02 percent, China Mengniu Dairy rallied 5.22 percent, China Resources Land added 2.59 percent, CITIC and Hang Lung Properties both improved 2.77 percent, CNOOC gained 2.18 percent, Country Garden skyrocketed 8.94 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical increased 1.78 percent, Galaxy Entertainment jumped 3.16 percent, Henderson Land strengthened 3.09 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas rose 0.41 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Haier Smart Home both collected 3.06 percent, JD.com rallied 5.53 percent, Lenovo strengthened 3.98 percent, Li Ning surged 6.74 percent, Meituan jumped 4.92 percent, New World Development climbed 3.28 percent, Techtronic Industries advanced 2.82 percent, Xiaomi Corporation spiked 6.24 percent and WuXi Biologics soared 6.58 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly negative as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday in a volatile session, finally ending mixed.

The Dow rose 5.14 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 32,661.84, while the NASDAQ lost 76.06 points or 0.66 percent to close at 11,379.48 and the S&P 500 sank 18.76 points or 0.47 percent to end at 3,951.39.

The choppy trading on Wall Street followed the release of a report from the Institute for Supply Management on U.S. manufacturing activity in February. While the index improved to 47.7 from 47.4 in January, it remained in contraction.

The report also showed the prices index jumped to 51.3 in February from 44.5 in January, indicating a spike in raw materials prices after four months of decline - which added to recent concerns about inflation and the outlook for interest rates.

Treasury yields jumped following the release of the report, with the 10-year yield reaching its highest levels in over three months.

Crude oil futures settled at near two-week high on Wednesday, boosted by upbeat China factory data that raised the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April climbed $0.64 or 0.8 percent at $77.69 a barrel.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will provide January data for retail sales later today; in December, sales were up 1.1 percent on year.