Hang Seng To Take Another Run At 30,000-Point Mark

The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in five straight sessions, surging more than 1,720 points or 6.2 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 29,960-point plateau and it's looking at another solid lead again for Thursday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism following the inauguration of former Vice President Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the technology stocks and casinos, weakness from the financials and oil companies and a mixed picture from the properties.

For the day, the index jumped 320.19 points or 1.08 percent to finish at 29,962.47 after trading between 29,676.54 and 29,993.47.

Among the actives, Meituan skyrocketed 9.09 percent, while Alibaba surged 8.52 percent, WuXi Biologics soared 5.23 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical spiked 4.49 percent, ANTA Sports plummeted 3.75 percent, AIA Group plunged 3.40 percent, AAC Technologies accelerated 2.77 percent, China Mengniu Dairy rallied 2.71 percent, Sands China jumped 2.43 percent, Galaxy Entertainment climbed 2.28 percent, Hang Lung Properties perked 2.20 percent, Wharf Real Estate tumbled 2.16 percent, Xiaomi Corporation gathered 1.75 percent, Sun Hing Kai Properties skidded 1.61 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas retreated 1.24 percent, BOC Hong Kong declined 1.02 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China surrendered 0.77 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.67 percent, Techtronic Industries advanced 0.59 percent, Power Assets sank 0.48 percent, CITIC added 0.48 percent, Henderson Land dropped 0.46 percent, Ping An Insurance shed 0.39 percent, China Resources Land gained 0.28 percent, New World Development rose 0.27 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) lost 0.25 percent and CNOOC fell 0.12 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as stocks opened higher and picked up steam as the day progressed, sending the major averages to fresh record closing highs.

The Dow spiked 257.86 points or 0.83 percent to finish at 31,188.38, while the NASDAQ surged 260.07 points or 1.97 percent to end at 13,457.25 and the S&P 500 jumped 52.94 points or 1.39 percent to close at 3,851.85.

The rally on Wall Street was fueled by Biden's inauguration. The former VP has called for additional stimulus and an accelerated coronavirus vaccine rollout, which has helped offset concerns about higher taxes and increased regulation under a Democratic administration.

The president is expected to sign several executive orders shortly after taking office, including orders to rejoin the Paris climate agreement and end former President Donald Trump's Muslim travel ban as well as the construction of the U.S.-Mexico border well.

The spike by the tech-heavy NASDAQ was partly due to a sharp increase by shares of Netflix (NFLX) after the video streaming giant reached a record closing high after reporting strong fourth quarter subscriber growth.

Crude oil prices rose on Wednesday amid hopes the Biden administration will step up stimulus to boost growth, leading to increased demand for energy. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures contracts for February ended up $0.26 or 0.5 percent at $53.24 a barrel on expiration day.

Closer to home, Hong Kong will see December data for consumer prices later today; in November, inflation was down 0.2 percent on year.

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