The Hong Kong stock market on Wednesday halted the two-day losing streak in which it had tumbled almost 1,100 points or 3.3. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 28,340-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement on Thursday ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed but little changed and Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financials, properties and casinos.
For the day, the index accelerated 355.71 points or 1.27 percent to finish at 28,341.04 after trading between 27,937.68 and 28,393.93.
Among the actives, China Mobile surged 3.66 percent, while AAC Technologies soared 3.61 percent, Techtronic Industries spiked 3.26 percent, China Resources Land accelerated 2.74 percent, China Mengniu Dairy jumped 2.71 percent, CNOOC climbed 2.62 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical gathered 2.53 percent, Sands China perked 2.32 percent, Ping An Insurance advanced 1.75 percent, Galaxy Entertainment added 1.50 percent, Tencent Holdings gained 1.45 percent, AIA Group rose 1.41 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 1.24 percent, CITIC increased 1.23 percent, China Life Insurance climbed 1.18 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas added 0.38 percent, New World Development and WH Group both gained 0.37 percent, BOC Hong Kong rose 0.36 percent, Wharf Real Estate lost 0.22 percent, Sino Land was up 0.18 percent and Henderson Land and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street provides little clarity as stocks opened higher Wednesday but gave most of it back as the day progressed to end little changed.
The Dow fell 9.73 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 29,186.27, while the NASDAQ rose 12.96 points or 0.14 percent to 9,383.77 and the S&P 500 added 0.96 points or 0.03 percent to 3,321.75.
A positive reaction to earnings news from IBM Corp. (IBM) contributed to the early strength on Wall Street after the tech giant reported better than expected fourth quarter results and provided upbeat full-year 2020 guidance.
Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to news of the Chinese government's efforts to stop the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.
But buying interest waned as the day progressed, with traders reluctant to make significant moves ahead of earnings news from a slew of other big-name companies in the coming days.
Crude oil prices declined sharply on Wednesday, weighed down by concerns about the outlook for energy demand after the International Energy Agency predicted a jump in global oil supply. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended down $1.64 or 2.8 percent at $56.74 a barrel.
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