Stock market today: Asian shares power higher following slight gains on Wall Street

Asian shares have powered higher after Wall Street logged modest gains in this holiday-shortened week. Hong Kong led gains, jumping 2.7% on heavy buying of technology-related shares. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 edged up 0.1% and the Dow rose 0.3%. The Nasdaq rose 0.2%. Markets have been holding on to slight gains for the week so far, and the S&P 500 is coming off its eighth straight winning week. With just two more trading days left in the year, major indexes are on track to post hefty annual gains. The S&P 500 is up more than 24% for the year, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq is up 44%. But markets in China fared much worse.