The Hong Kong stock market has climbed higher in four straight sessions, surging more than 1,400 points or 5 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just shy of the 29,650-point plateau and it's looking at another solid lead again for Wednesday's trade.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on hopes for improved coronavirus vaccine rollout and additional stimulus. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.
The Hang Seng finished sharply higher with gains across the board - particularly from the financials, properties, casinos and oil and insurance stocks.
For the day, the index soared 779.51 points or 2.70 percent to finish at 29,642.28 after trading between 29,100.17 and 29,848.43.
Among the actives, China Resources Land skyrocketed 10.20 percent, while ANTA Sports surged 9.43 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical soared 6.54 percent, WuXi Biologics spiked 5.93 percent, Xiaomi Corporation accelerated 5.02 percent, Meituan rallied 4.82 percent, AIA Group jumped 4.41 percent, CITIC climbed 3.99 percent, AAC Technologies gathered 3.52 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) perked 3.03 percent, Sun Hung Kai Properties advanced 2.76 percent, Galaxy Entertainment added 2.69 percent, New World Development gained 2.20 percent, CNOOC soared 2.18 percent, Techtronic Industries spiked 1.90 percent, China Life Insurance rallied 1.70 percent, Power Assets perked 1.46 percent, BOC Hong Kong jumped 1.23 percent, China Mengniu Dairy skidded 1.13 percent, Alibaba Group advanced 0.91 percent, Sands China added 0.82 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.78 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas gained 0.53 percent and Ping An Insurance rose 0.10 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as stocks opened higher on Tuesday and remained in the green throughout the session, butting into last week's losses.
The Dow added 116.26 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 30,930.52, while the NASDAQ spiked 198.68 points or 1.53 percent to end at 13,197.18 and the S&P 500 gained 30.66 points or 0.81 percent to close at 3,798.91.
The markets benefited from continued optimism about additional stimulus as well as a faster rollout of coronavirus vaccines under incoming President Joe Biden, who is set to take office later today.
Traders kept an eye on remarks from Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen, who called for additional stimulus to address the impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, arguing the government needs to act big.
In corporate news, a drop by shares of Goldman Sachs (GS) limited the upside for the Dow after the financial giant slumped by 2.3 percent despite reporting better than expected Q4 results. Bank of America (BAC) also sank after reporting better than expected Q4 earnings but missed on revenue.
Crude oil prices rose Tuesday, riding the dollar's weakness and expectations of more economic stimulus in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended up $0.62 or 1.2 percent at $52.98 a barrel.
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