HONG KONG—Hong Kong stocks ended above the 30,000 mark for the first time in 10 years on Wednesday as Asian markets extended a global rally following another record close on Wall Street.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index, meanwhile, declined 23.51 points, or 0.3 percent, to 8,265.68 on a value turnover of P6.9 billion. Losers beat gainers, 109 to 83, with 50 issues unchanged.
After retreating for most of this month, investors were back in buying mood this week on optimism about the world economy and earnings, while they remain upbeat that US lawmakers will eventually push through much-vaunted tax cuts.
All three main indexes in New York closed at all-time highs once again as dealers there begin to wind down for the Thanksgiving holiday Thursday.
Tech firms were the big winners, with top titans including Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google parent Alphabet firming more than one percent.
The positive energy flowed through to Asia, where Hong Kong pushed 0.6 percent higher, sitting above the 30,000 barrier for the first time since late 2007.
The Hang Seng Index has soared by a third this year, boosted by Tencent, which has doubled in value in that period—helping the internet giant surpass half a trillion dollars in market capitalization and overtaking Facebook.
The HSI is less than 2,000 points off its record high seen in October 2007, and Kevin Tam, deputy head of research at Core Pacific Yamaichi, told AFP: “I do not see any reason it cannot break the record. Currently the uptrend is quite solid.”
Regarding Tencent’s rally, he added: “It’s likely sustainable because Tencent will book financial gains in the fourth quarter.”
He said gains from the listing of Tencent’s e-book spin-off China Literature will be included for that quarter. China Literature almost doubled in value on its debut earlier this month. However, Tencent slipped 0.7 percent on profit-taking Wednesday.
Across the rest of Asia investors were buoyant, sending Tokyo jumping 0.5 percent, Shanghai 0.6 percent up and Sydney 0.4 percent higher.
Seoul, Singapore and Taipei each rose 0.4 percent, while Jakarta and Wellington were also well up.