The global forecast for the Asian markets is fairly negative after renewed concerns about the debt problem in Greece, along with disappointing economic data from the United States. Gold and oil stocks are expected to fall, along with technology, steel and financial shares. The European markets finished mixed on Wednesday and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower, and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financials, properties and technology stocks.

For the day, the index collected 232.76 points or 1.29 percent to finish at 18,309.22 after trading between 18,203.99 and 18,426.29 on volume of 57.44 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Among the gainers, Bank of East Asia added 1.8 percent, while New World Development jumped 2.6 percent and Lenovo climbed 2.6 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is pessimistic as stocks fell on Wednesday, giving back ground after seeing significant strength in the previous session. The pullback was partly due to a negative reaction to the Federal Reserve's Beige Book report. The Beige Book noted that the twelve Fed districts indicated continued economic growth in September, although many districts described the pace of growth as "modest" or "slight" and noted weaker or less certain outlooks for business conditions. While the report, a compilation of anecdotal evidence on economic conditions from each of the twelve Fed districts, did not provide much new information, it still generated considerable selling pressure on Wall Street.

The choppy trading seen earlier in the session came as traders digested the latest batch of earnings news, including disappointing quarterly results from tech giant Apple (AAPL). Apple reported fourth quarter earnings of $7.05 per share on revenues of $28.3 billion, while analysts had been expecting the iPod and iPad maker to report earnings of $7.38 per share on revenues of $29.7 billion.

Meanwhile, semiconductor giant Intel (INTC) reported third quarter adjusted earnings that exceeded analyst estimates. The company also forecast better than expected fourth quarter revenues.

On the economic front, the Commerce Department reported a bigger than expected increase in September housing starts, reflecting a jump in construction of multi-family dwellings. Housing starts came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 658,000 in September, 15 percent above the revised August estimate of 572,000. Economists had expected starts to increase to 590,000. Read More