The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher now in seven consecutive trading days, surging more than 1,630 points or 5.1 percent en route to a fresh record closing high. The Hang Seng Index sits just beneath the 32,960-point plateau although it's ripe for profit taking on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with support offered by solid earnings news and a surge in crude oil prices. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Hang Seng finished slightly higher on Wednesday as gains from the oil and insurance companies were capped by weakness from the casinos and properties.
For the day, the index picked up 27.99 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 32,958.69 after trading between 32,728.51 and 33,018.71.
Among the actives, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) surged 4.58 percent, while CITIC soared 4.30 percent, CNOOC spiked 3.06 percent, Ping An Insurance plummeted 2.49 percent, Lenovo Group jumped 2.41 percent, Kunlun Energy climbed 2.08 percent, China Life advanced 1.89 percent, Li & Fung tumbled 1.21 percent, Henderson Land skidded 1.13 percent, Galaxy Entertainment dropped 1.04 percent, BOC Hong Kong collected 0.84 percent, Sands China shed 0.82 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 0.68 percent, New World Development slid 0.48 percent, AIA Group fell 0.22 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dipped 0.13 percent and Power Asset Holdings and Sino Land were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street suggests mild consolidation as stocks failed to sustain an early upward move Wednesday before finishing mixed - although the Dow hit a new record closing high.
The Dow rose 41.31 points or 0.16 percent to 26,252.12, while the NASDAQ slid 45.23 points or 0.61 percent to 7,415.06 and the S&P 500 eased 1.59 points or 0.06 percent to 2,837.54.
The early strength reflected a positive reaction to the latest batch of quarterly earnings news from Abbott Laboratories (ABT), United Technologies (UTX), and Comcast (CMCSA).
In economic news, the National Association of Realtors noted a bigger than expected pullback in existing home sales in December - which came sales jumped to highest rate in nearly eleven years in November.
Crude oil futures extended three-year highs Wednesday, fueled by a weak U.S. dollar and another decline in U.S. oil inventories. March WTI oil climbed $1.14 or 1.8 percent to $65.61/bbl, the highest since December 2014.
Closer to home, Hong Kong will release December data for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In November, imports were worth 407.13 billion HKD and exports were at 367.42 billion HKD for a trade deficit of 39.71 billion HKD.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com