Hong Kong Shares May Ebb On Profit Taking

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, improving almost 1,100 points or 4.5 percent in that span. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 24,750-point plateau although it's expected to open under water on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of the FOMC rate decision later today. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Tuesday with gains across the board, especially among the financials, properties and technology companies.

For the day, the index surged 595.00 points or 2.46 percent to finish at 24,740.57 after trading between 24,475.26 and 24,745.13.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group soared 5.83 percent, while Alibaba Health Info spiked 4.33 percent, ANTA Sports rallied 2.77 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 2.53 percent, China Mengniu Dairy tumbled 1.91 percent, China Resources Land climbed 1.49 percent, CITIC surged 6.72 percent, CNOOC rose 0.66 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical accelerated 3.53 percent, Galaxy Entertainment increased 1.23 percent, Haier Smart Home rallied 3.01 percent, Hang Lung Properties strengthened 1.62 percent, Henderson Land was up 0.65 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.71 percent, JD.com soared 5.27 percent, Lenovo advanced 1.37 percent, Li Auto surged 6.76 percent, Li Ning gained 0.95 percent, Meituan improved 1.26 percent, New World Development skyrocketed 7.66 percent, Nongfu Spring added 1.04 percent, Techtronic Industries jumped 1.88 percent, Xiaomi Corporation accelerated 3.32 percent, WuXi Biologics spiked 5.08 percent and Hong Kong & China Gas was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 260.32 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 41,581.31, while the NASDAQ plunged 304.55 points or 1.71 percent to close at 17,504.12 and the S&P 500 sank 60.46 points or 1.07 percent to end at 5,614.66.

Concerns about the impact of President Donald Trump's trade policies continued to weigh along with worries about the economic outlook despite the release of some upbeat economic data.

The Federal Reserve said industrial production in the U.S. increased much more than expected in January. Also, the Commerce Department said new residential construction rebounded more than anticipated in February.

Traders were also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy announcement later today. While the Fed is expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will look to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

Oil futures settled lower on Tuesday as concerns about supply disruptions eased, while worries about global growth due to the impact of U.S. trade tariffs weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $0.68 or 1 percent at $66.90 a barrel.