HSI Holds Above 29,000 At Close

Local shares ended flat on Wednesday as traders turned their attention to the US Federal Reserve's update on its economic and interest rate forecasts due out later in the day.

The Hang Seng Index opened slightly lower and then dipped more than 200 points, but reversed course to gain 152 points during the morning session.

It hovered around the 29,000-mark for the remainder of the day before closing up six points at 29,034.

Turnover was HK$148.4 billion.

Leading the blue-chip gainers were Galaxy Entertainment and Budweiser APAC, each jumping 4.6 percent.

Alibaba eked out 0.5 percent in gains despite news that its internet browser was removed from a number of app stores in the mainland.

Weighing the blue-chip index, Sunny Optical retreated 2.8 percent. Sinopec declined 2.7 percent.

Across the border, the Shanghai Composite Index was flat, but the blue-chip CSI300 index put on 0.4 percent. The Shenzhen Composite added 1 percent.

Other regional markets ended mixed. The Nikkei in Japan was little changed. Seoul and Taiwan each slipped 0.6 percent. Australia gave up 0.5 percent. But Singapore inched up 0.3 percent.