Local Shares Follow Wall Street To Finish Higher

The Hang Seng Index edged higher on Wednesday, following the lead of a tech rally in the US while markets elsewhere in the region struggled.

The local blue-chip index opened higher but lost ground during the day. It managed to climb back up to finish the day 134 points, or 0.5 percent higher, at 28,907, on turnover of HK$190.5 billion.

Sunny Optical, which advanced 6.3 percent, was among the index’s top gainers.

Biotech firms Wuxi Biologics, CSPC Pharmaceutical and Sino Biopharmaceutical each rose between 3.2 and 5.7 percent.

Meituan rallied five percent. Tencent put on 2.3 percent. Alibaba added 2 percent. But Xiaomi dropped 0.7 percent.

Old economy shares also headed south. CK Hutchison retreated three percent to become the day's worst performing blue-chip. CNOOC declined 2.6 percent. HSBC lost more than two percent.

Across the border, healthcare shares led the CSI300 index off its three-month low to gain 0.7 percent. But the Shanghai Composite index was marginally lower. The Shenzhen Composite index edged up 0.2 percent.

Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei was flat. South Korea's Kospi inched down 0.6 percent. Australia slid 0.8 percent. Singapore shed about one percent. But Taiwan gained 0.4 percent.