China Bourse Likely To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last six trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped almost 110 points or 2.7 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sit just above the 4,110-point plateau and it's likely to turn lower again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly soft, with selling pressure among the technology stocks likely to tip the markets into the red. The European and U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The SCI finished slightly higher as gains from the broader market were offset by weakness from the financial shares and property stocks.

For the day, the index perked 4.56 points or 0.11 percent to finish ay 4,110.81 after trading between 4,075.49 and 4,117.28. The Shenzhen Composite Index added 21.84 points or 0.77 percent to end at 2,855.61.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China tumbled 2.17 percent, while Bank of China contracted 1.95 percent, Agricultural Bank of China plunged 3.50 percent, China Merchants Bank retreated 1.71 percent, Bank of Communications tanked 2.93 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 0.91 percent, Jiangxi Copper crashed 4.13 percent, Yankuang Energy stumbled 2.49 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) skidded 1.48 percent, Huaneng Power sank 4.37 percent, China Shenhua Energy slumped 1.50 percent, Gemdale plummeted 5.13 percent, Poly Developments surrendered 3.25 percent, China Vanke cratered 3.88 percent and Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) and PetroChina were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but couldn't hold the gains, finally finishing mixed.

The Dow climbed 182.06 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 51,848.90, while the NASDAQ slumped 110.40 points or 0.43 percent to close at 25,476.63 and the S&P 500 slipped 7.24 points or 0.10 percent to end at 7,358.22.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street, and especially the tech-heavy NASDAQ, was the result of renewed selling among semiconductor stocks over artificial intelligence infrastructure concerns.

The early strength came despite some uncertainty surrounding the US-Iran peace deal amid disagreements between the two nations over a few key terms of the pact.

A slide in crude oil prices also spurred the markets higher as West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery tumbled $2.87 or 3.92 percent to $70.34 per barrel as shipping traffic picks up across the Strait of Hormuz.

In economic news, data from the Commerce Department showed sales of new single-family homes in the US tumbled 7.3 percent month-over-month in May to the lowest annualized rate of 580,000, following an upwardly revised 626,000 in April.