China Bourse May Extend Wednesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Wednesday ended the three-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 90 points or 2.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,950-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with better-than-expected earnings news from AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) expected to fuel the markets. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished slightly higher on Wednesday as gains from the financial, resource and energy companies were capped by weakness from the property sector.

For the day, the index rose 6.93 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 3,946.74 after trading between 3,930.07 and 3,960.05. The Shenzhen Composite Index dipped 12.45 points or 0.50 percent to end at 2,473.34.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China both collected 0.37 percent, while Bank of China spiked 3.81 percent, China Merchants Bank improved 0.79 percent, Bank of Communications strengthened 1.35 percent, China Life Insurance rallied 2.98 percent, Jiangxi Copper climbed 1.19 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) jumped 2.14 percent, Yankuang Energy advanced 1.11 percent, PetroChina surged 4.05 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) soared 4.31 percent, Huaneng Power increased 1.02 percent, China Shenhua Energy vaulted 1.46 percent, Gemdale stumbled 2.37 percent, Poly Developments slumped 1.84 percent and China Vanke dropped 1.14 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and hugged the line for most of the day before ending with modest gains.

The Dow added 47.03 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 46,138.77, while the NASDAQ jumped 131.38 points or 0.59 percent to end at 22,564.23 and the S&P 500 gained 24.84 points or 0.38 percent to close at 6,642.16.

The early strength on Wall Street came as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels following the significant weakness of the past few sessions. The major averages slumped to their lowest closing levels in a month on Tuesday on lingering concerns about a potential AI bubble.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as traders looked ahead to the release of earnings news Nvidia after the close of Wednesday's trading.

Stocks continued to show a lack of direction after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting revealed officials had mixed views about the outlook for interest rates.

Crude oil tumbled on Wednesday, with various data points reinforcing oversupply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $1.22 or 2.01 percent at $59.52 per barrel.