Stocks in Asia finished higher on Thursday as investors digest the latest FOMC minutes while upbeat quarterly results from Samsung raised optimism for the earnings season. Shares of Samsung surged 3.2% after the company posted its best April-June quarterly profit in three years, also boosting stocks of other semiconductors. Meanwhile, minutes from the last FOMC meeting showed the Fed could adopt a more aggressive stance if inflation remains elevated, backing a 50 or 75 bps rate hike this month. On the other hand, coronavirus cases in Shanghai were the highest since May, raising further concerns that more restrictions will be introduced. In Hong Kong however, the government suspended the "circuit breaker mechanism" that banned individual flights for bringing in passengers infected with the COVID-19 virus. Both the Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite added 0.3%, the Nikkei 225 1.5%, the ASX 200 0.8% and the Kospi 1.8%.
Historically, the Hong Kong Stock Market Index (HK50) reached an all time high of 33484.08 in January of 2018. Hong Kong Stock Market Index (HK50) - data, forecasts, historical chart - was last updated on July of 2022.
The Hong Kong Stock Market Index (HK50) is expected to trade at 20856.43 points by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate it to trade at 18115.21 in 12 months time.