The Hong Kong stock market on Wednesday ended the two-day losing streak in which it had given away more than 60 points or 0.2 percent. The Hang Seng Index now rests just beneath the 26,650-point plateau and it's tipped to find additional support again on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat after the FOMC's decision to leave interest rates unchanged. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.
The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financials, casinos and oil and insurance companies.
For the day, the index jumped 208.81 points or 0.79 percent to finish at 26,645.43 after trading between 26,364.43 and 26,659.98.
Among the actives, AAC Technologies skyrocketed 5.63 percent, while China Resources Land surged 2.37 percent, China Life Insurance soared 2.23 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical spiked 2.12 percent, Ping An Insurance accelerated 1.51 percent, Tencent Holdings jumped 0.95 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.90 percent, WH Group tumbled 0.88 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas climbed 0.81 percent, AIA Group advanced 0.78 percent, CNOOC added 0.71 percent, Galaxy Entertainment gained 0.39 percent, China Mengniu Dairy increased 0.33 percent, Sands China rose 0.27 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) was up 0.23 percent, New World Development dipped 0.20 percent, China Mobile perked 0.17 percent and BOC Hong Kong, CITIC and Techtronic Industries were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is positive, mostly in response to the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy announcement.
The Dow added 29.58 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 27,911.30, while the NASDAQ gained 37.87 points or 0.44 percent to 8,654.05 and the S&P rose 9.11 points or 0.29 percent to 3,141.63.
The higher close on Wall Street came after the Fed decided to leave interest rates unchanged following three straight rate cuts. The decision was widely expected, although the Fed's projections showed a majority of meeting participants now expect interest rates to remain on hold throughout 2020.
In its accompanying statement, the Fed said the current stance of monetary policy is appropriate to support a sustained economic expansion, strong labor market conditions, and inflation near its symmetric 2 percent objective.
Crude oil prices eased on Wednesday after data showed a surprise increase in crude inventories in the U.S. last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures for January ended down $0.48 or 0.8 percent at $58.76 a barrel.
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