China Shares May Shrug Off Upbeat Lead

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Wednesday ended the absurd 10-day winning streak in which it had skyrocketed more than 780 points or 27.9 percent. The Shanghai Composite now sits just beneath the 3,260-point plateau - and by all rights, it ought to move lower again on Thursday despite a firm lead.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Wednesday with some overdue profit taking across the board, especially among the property and insurance stocks.

For the day, the index plunged 230.92 points or 6.62 percent to finish at 3,258.86 after trading between 3,249.16 and 3,437.16. The Shenzhen Composite Index plummeted 181.45 points or 8.65 percent to end at 1,917.31.

Among the actives, China Life Insurance, Gemdale, Poly Developments and China Vanke all plummeted by the 10 percent daily limit, while Industrial and Commercial Bank of China retreated 1.31 percent, Bank of China surrendered 3.22 percent, China Construction Bank dropped 2.12 percent, China Merchants Bank tanked 7.48 percent, Agricultural Bank of China tumbled 1.89 percent, Jiangxi Copper plunged 9.14 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) crashed 8.27 percent, Yankuang Energy stumbled 8.08 percent, PetroChina declined 9.63 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) sank 6.27 percent, Huaneng Power slumped 6.17 percent and China Shenhua Energy lost 4.92 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened flat on Wednesday but tracked consistently higher as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 431.63 points or 1.03 percent to finish at a record 42,512.00, while the NASDAQ jumped 108.70 points or 0.60 percent to close at 18,291.62 and the S&P 500 rallied 40.91 points or 0.71 percent to also end at a record high 5,792.04.

The strength on Wall Street followed the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve's September meeting, which showed that most members favored the larger rate cut rather than a smaller one, generating optimism for future cuts.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said the U.S. trade deficit shrank to $70.4 billion in August from a revised $78.9 billion in July. Economists had expected the trade deficit to decrease to $70.6 billion from the $78.8 billion originally reported for the previous month.

Crude oil prices fell Wednesday after data showed a big jump in crude inventories which outweighed possible supply disruptions due to Hurricane Milton and Middle East tensions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November fell $0.33 or 0.45 percent at $73.24 a barrel.