The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in three straight sessions, gathering almost 1,050 points or 3.7 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 29,300-point plateau although investors may cash in on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement on stimulus concerns and lackluster earnings news. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.
The Hang Seng finished slightly higher following gains from the oil companies, mixed performances from the technology stocks and weakness from the properties and financials.
For the day, the index gained 58.76 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 29,307.46 after trading between 28,967.01 and 29,312.00.
Among the actives, Meituan surged 4.86 percent, while CNOOC soared 3.55 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical plummeted 3.06 percent, Techtronic Industries plunged 2.67 percent, Xiaomi Corporation tanked 2.53 percent, WuXi Biologics tumbled 2.33 percent, New World Development skidded 1.67 percent, Ping An Insurance retreated 1.59 percent, AAC Technologies declined 1.17 percent, BOC Hong Kong surrendered 1.08 percent, China Resources Land sank 0.96 percent, China Mengniu Dairy spiked 0.96 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dropped 0.90 percent, China Life Insurance shed 0.84 percent, CITIC lost 0.65 percent, Wharf Real Estate and Power Assets both fell 0.60 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Galaxy Entertainment both slid 0.41 percent, Alibaba Group added 0.38 percent, Sands China dipped 0.31 percent, ANTA Sports was down 0.29 percent, Sun Hing Kai Properties eased 0.19 percent and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) and AIA Group were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as stocks showed a lack of direction on Wednesday, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before ending mixed and little changed.
The Dow added 36.12 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 30,723.60, while the NASDAQ eased 2.23 points or 0.02 percent to end at 13,610.54 and the S&P 500 rose 3.86 points or 0.10 percent to close at 3,830.17.
Earnings news was inconsistent as Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Amgen (AMGN) and Amazon all beat the street although only Alphabet posted gains in the market.
The lackluster performance by the broader markets followed the release of some upbeat economic data, which raised concerns lawmakers will feel less pressure to provide additional stimulus.
Payroll processor ADP noted a much stronger than expected rebound in private sector employment in January, while the Institute for Supply Management showed U.S. service sector activity unexpectedly accelerated last month.
Crude oil prices moved higher to hit 11-month highs on Wednesday, lifted by OPEC's decision to cut crude production for two months. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended up $0.93 or 1.7 percent at $55.69 a barrel.
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