Additional Support Expected For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since ending the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost 700 points or 2.7 percent. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 26,760-point plateau although it's likely to open to the upside again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, riding solely on the strength of technology companies. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are likely to follow that lead.

The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Wednesday as gains from the financial shares, insurance companies and technology stocks were tempered by weakness from the property sector.

For the day, the index improved 175.40 points or 0.66 percent to finish at 26,765.72 after trading between 26,632.53 and 26,870.03.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group gained 0.20 percent, while Alibaba Health Info, Hang Lung Properties and CLP Holdings all plunged 2.53 percent, ANTA Sports soared 2.48 percent, China Life Insurance advanced 0.74 percent, China Mengniu Dairy strengthened 1.55 percent, China Resources Land spiked 2.26 percent, CITIC expanded 0.89 percent, CNOOC and Xiaomi Corporation both sank 0.39 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical dropped 0.70 percent, Galaxy Entertainment vaulted 1.07 percent, Haier Smart Home eased 0.07 percent, Henderson Land tanked 2.10 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas slumped 0.91 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.16 percent, JD.com added 0.47 percent, Lenovo increased 0.52 percent, Li Auto and Hengan International both rose 0.14 percent, Li Ning stumbled 1.16 percent, Meituan rallied 1.60 percent, New World Development surged 5.49 percent, Nongfu Spring improved 0.64 percent, WuXi Biologics jumped 1.57 percent and Techtronic Industries was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and remained in the green throughout the trading day, ending at session highs.

The Dow climbed 307.65 points or 0.63 percent to finish at 49,482.15, while the NASDAQ jumped 288.40 points or 1.26 percent to close at 23,152.08 and the S&P 500 gained 56.06 points or 0.81 percent to end at 6,946.13.

The strength on Wall Street reflected optimism ahead of the release of earnings news from AI chipmaker and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) after the close of Wednesday's trade. The company's earnings came in at $42.960 billion, or $1.76 per share compared to $22.091 billion, or $0.89 per share, last year.

Software stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, with the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index spiking by 3.1 percent. The index continued to regain ground after slumping to its lowest closing level in ten months on Monday amid easing AI disruption concerns.

The price of crude oil ticked lower on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration reported a substantial rebound by U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery slipped $0.15 or 0.2 percent to $65.48 a barrel.