The Hong Kong stock market has jumped higher in three straight trading days, surging almost 800 points or 2.6 percent en route to a fresh record closing high. The Hang Seng Index rests just above the 32,120-point plateau although it's overdue for profit taking on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, thanks to concerns over a U.S. government shutdown and a fall in crude oil prices. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Hang Seng finished modestly higher on Thursday following mixed performances from the financials, properties and oil companies.
For the day, the index advanced 138.53 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 32,121.94 after trading between 31,869.70 and 32,233.81.
Among the actives, Tingyi Holding surged 5.56 percent, while Cathay Pacific Airways soared 2.52 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China spiked 3.17 percent, Ping An Insurance advanced 2.66 percent, CITIC jumped 2.23 percent, AIA Group tumbled 2.21 percent, Lenovo Group climbed 1.57 percent, CNOOC skidded 0.81 percent, Sands China added 0.66 percent, New World Development shed 0.48 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) gained 0.47 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas lost 0.39 percent, BOC Hong Kong fell 0.36 percent, Galaxy Entertainment eased 0.24 percent, Kunlun Energy picked up 0.13 percent and China Resources Land and China Life were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks gave ground on Thursday as the major averages eased from Wednesday's record closing highs.
The Dow shed 97.84 points or 0.37 percent to 26,017.81, while the NASDAQ lost 2.23 points or 0.03 percent to 7,296.05 and the S&P 500 fell 4.53 points or 0.16 percent to 2,798.03.
The weakness on Wall Street was partly attributed to concerns about a potential government shutdown, with a deadline to pass a spending bill looming today.
Profit taking may also have contributed to the pullback by stocks, with some traders cashing on the recent run to record highs.
In economic news, the Commerce Department noted a steep drop in new residential construction in December, while the Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment benefits pulled back to lowest level in nearly 45 years in the week ended January 13th.
Crude oil prices were flat Thursday amid speculation the fossil fuel is overbought near three-year highs. After cold weather interruptions, U.S. crude production rose 258,000 barrels per day to 9.75 million bpd last week. February WTI oil was down 2 cents to $63.95/bbl on Nymex.
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