China Bourse Expected To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes since the end of the four-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than 80 points or 2.6 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,290-point although it may turn lower again on Wednesday.

The global forecast is cautious ahead of the U.S. interest rate decision later today. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed, and the oversold Asian markets figure to see little movement ahead of the rate decision.

The SCI finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financials, properties and resource stocks.

For the day, the index advanced 33.36 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 3,288.91 after trading between 3,195.82 and 3,289.13. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 4.01 points or 0.19 percent to end at 2,089.11.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China climbed 1.07 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.62 percent, China Construction Bank advanced 0.84 percent, China Merchants Bank jumped 1.74 percent, Bank of Communications strengthened 1.43 percent, China Life Insurance soared 4.34 percent, Jiangxi Copper improved 1.13 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tumbled 2.17 percent, Yankuang Energy spiked 2.99 percent, PetroChina surged 5.43 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rallied 1.68 percent, Huaneng Power gained 0.82 percent, China Shenhua Energy accelerate 2.31 percent, Gemdale gathered 3.55 percent, Poly Developments perked 2.09 percent, China Vanke added 1.60 percent and China Fortune Land skyrocketed 9.90 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is murky after the major averages shook off a higher open on Friday. The Dow and S&P quickly turned lower and stayed that way, while the NASDAQ bounced back and forth across the line to finish higher.

The Dow dropped 151.91 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 30,364.83, while the NASDAQ added 19.12 points or 0.18 percent to close at 10,828.35 and the S&P 500 dipped 14.15 points or 0.38 percent to end at 3,735.48.

The choppy trade on Wall Street comes ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today.

The Fed is expected to hike interest rates by 50 basis points, although forecasts are suggesting a 75-bp increase.

In economic news, the Labor Department said producer prices increased on a monthly basis but eased off a 21-year high annually.

Crude oil futures drifted lower Tuesday on reports of a likely proposal to impose a federal surtax on oil companies to curb rising inflation. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended lower by $2.00 or 1.7 percent at $118.93 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will release a raft of data this morning, including May figures for fixed asset investment, industrial production, retail sales and unemployment.

Investment is expected to rise 6.0 percent on year, slowing from 6.8 percent in April. Production is expected to fall 0.7 percent on year after sinking 2.9 percent in the previous month. Sales are predicted to slump 7.1 percent on year after dropping 11.1 percent a month earlier. The jobless rate in April was 6.1 percent.