HSI Posts Healthy Gains, Sunny Optical Shines

Local and most regional markets finished higher on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve promised to keep rates near zero through 2023 despite forecasting a healthy rebound for the world's largest economy.

Yields fell and Wall Street scaled new highs overnight after the Fed said it will keep rates low through 2023, even though it expects inflation to go above its target of 2 percent this year and that the US economy will grow at its fastest pace since 1984.

Locally, the Hang Seng Index opened higher and surged 562 points. But it later narrowed its gains and finished up 371 points, or 1.28 percent, at 29,405, on turnover of HK$174.6 billion.

Sunny Optical stood out among the outperformers on the blue-chip index. The Apple supplier soared as much as 11.5 percent, the most in nearly two years, after it posted a 22.9 percent increase in net profit and a Nomura upgrade. The Zhejiang-based company closed 9.5 percent higher at HK$195.80.

Major tech shares also rallied. Alibaba jumped almost 5 percent, Meituan advanced 3.7 percent and Tencent added 2.6 percent.

Markets across the border were boosted by consumer and healthcare firms. The Shanghai Composite index put on 0.5 percent, and the blue-chip CSI300 index climbed 0.8 percent. The Shenzhen Composite was 0.9 percent higher.

Elsewhere in the region, Tokyo's Nikkei gained 1 percent. The Kospi in Seoul edged up 0.6 percent. Taiwan rose 0.4 percent. Singapore was 0.9 percent higher. But Australia shed 0.7 percent.