The Hong Kong stock market on Wednesday snapped the two-day losing streak in which it had retreated more than 375 points or 1.6 percent. The Hang Seng Index finished just above the 23,000-point plateau, and now analysts are predicting additional strength at the opening of trade on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is fairly positive, thanks to a rebound in commodity prices. Oil stocks figure to lead the way, while technology stocks also may provide support. The European and U.S. markets finished higher on Wednesday, and now the Asian bourses are also expected to track to the upside.
The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Wednesday following bargain hunting - particularly among the financials and energy producers.
For the day, the index gained 110.06 points or 0.5 percent to finish at 23,011.14 after trading between 22,924.46 and 23,057.22 on volume of 60.41 billion Hong Kong dollars.
Among the gainers, China Shenhua Energy added 1.7 percent, while China Coal Energy jumped 2.1 percent, CNOOC collected 1.5 percent and Foxconn International surged 11.0 percent.
Wall Street puts forth an optimistic lead as stocks showed a strong upward move over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The markets benefited from an increase in commodities prices, with energy stocks helping to lead the way higher as the price of crude oil surged up $3.19 to $100.10 a barrel. That was partly due to a report from the Energy Department showing an unexpected decrease in crude oil inventories. The report showed that crude oil inventories edged down by 15,000 barrels in the week ended May 13 compared to analyst estimates for an increase of about 1 million barrels.
Buying interest was also generated by a positive reaction to quarterly results and guidance from computer giant Dell (DELL). Shares of Dell rose by 5.4 percent to their best closing level in a year after the company reported first quarter adjusted earnings of $0.55 per share, well above analyst estimates for earnings of $0.44 per share. However, the company also reported revenues of $15.02 billion, shy of the consensus estimate of $15.41 billion.
Stocks saw continued strength in the afternoon as traders digested the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting, which showed that Fed officials held extensive discussions about the strategy for exiting from the ultra-accommodative monetary policy that has supported the U.S economy.
At the conclusion of the two-day meeting in April, the Fed voted to continue its $600 billion asset purchase program and maintain near-zero interest rates, a move that was in line with market expectations. However, according to the minutes, there were signs of division among members about when to scale back unprecedented support measures.
The major averages closed firmly in positive territory, near their best levels of the day. The Dow advanced 80.60 points or 0.7 percent to 12,560.18, the NASDAQ jumped 31.79 points or 1.1 percent to 2,815.00 and the S&P 500 climbed 11.70 points or 0.9 percent to 1,340.68.
In economic news, Hong Kong will on Thursday provide April's unemployment and composite interest rates. The unemployment rate is expected to come in at a seasonally adjusted 3.3 percent, easing from 3.4 percent in March. The interest rate is tipped to hold steady at 0.24 percent.
Also, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday that home prices increased in 67 of the 70 Chinese cities monitored by the government in April. House prices in Beijing increased 2.8 percent year-on-year in April after a 4.9 percent gain in the previous month. In Shanghai, prices advanced 1.3 percent.
Urumqi posted the biggest gain with the house price index rising 9.3 percent from a year earlier. Home prices in Mu Danjiang climbed 8.7 percent, data showed. House prices in Shenzhen, a major city in the south of Guangdong Province, advanced 3.1 percent compared to the same month a year earlier.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.