Higher Open Predicted For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, advancing almost 700 points or 3.4 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 21,000-point plateau and it's got a positive lead again for Wednesday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat thanks to optimism over the U.S. presidential election. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Tuesday with gains across the board.

For the day, the index surged 439/45 points or 2.14 percent to finish at the daily high of 21,006.97 after trading as low as 20,409.94.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group and China Resources Land both strengthened 2.45 percent, while Alibaba Health Info surged 5.75 percent, ANTA Sports rallied 3.91 percent, China Life Insurance soared 5.16 percent, China Mengniu Dairy spiked 4.65 percent, CITIC jumped 2.85 percent, CNOOC gained 1.55 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical accelerated 4.39 percent, Galaxy Entertainment advanced 2.30 percent, Haier Smart Home rose 0.69 percent, Hang Lung Properties rallied 3.87 percent, Henderson Land rose 1.17 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas increased 0.33 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 1.46 percent, JD.com added 1.60 percent, Lenovo gathered 1.16 percent, Li Auto slumped 0.81 percent, Li Ning soared 7.04 percent, Meituan strengthened 3.25 percent, New World Development spiked 3.43 percent, Nongfu Spring surged 9.56 percent, Techtronic Industries was up 0.35 percent, Xiaomi Corporation jumped 3.30 percent and WuXi Biologics climbed 3.22 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday and picked up steam as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow rallied 427.28 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 42,221.88, while the NASDAQ surged 259.19 points or 1.43 percent to close at 18,439.17 and the S&P 500 jumped 70.07 points or 1.23 percent to end at 5.782.76.

The rally on Wall Street reflected optimism the stock market and the U.S. economy in general will continue to perform well regardless of the results of the elections.

Polls show an extremely tight race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, suggesting the outcome of the presidential election may not be known by the end of the night.

In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said service sector activity grew at an accelerated rate in October. Also, the Commerce Department noted a significant increase in the size of the U.S. trade deficit in September, as imports surged and exports slumped.

Oil futures settled higher on Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session as traders reacted positively to OPEC's decision to delay production increases, while a weaker dollar also supported prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed up $0.52 or 0.73 percent at $71.99 a barrel.