China Shares Tipped To Open Under Water On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market turned lower again on Tuesday, one day after snapping the two-day slide in which it had dropped more than 55 points or 1.5 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,820-point plateau and the losses may accelerate on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky on rising ambiguity over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished slightly lower on Tuesday as losses from the property and resource sectors were mitigated by support from the financials and oil companies.

For the day, the index slipped 6.74 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 3,821.83 after trading between 3,774.53 and 3,838.61. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 19.42 points or 0.78 percent to end at 2,467.01.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China surged 3.06 percent, while Bank of China collected 1.73 percent, Agricultural Bank of China spiked 2.47 percent, China Merchants Bank strengthened 1.54 percent, Bank of Communications jumped 1.91 percent, China Life Insurance rose 0.21 percent, Jiangxi Copper sank 0.73 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) retreated 1.43 percent, Yankuang Energy rallied 2.53 percent, PetroChina added 0.49 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) improved 0.75 percent, Huaneng Power perked 0.14 percent, China Shenhua Energy advanced 0.91 percent, Gemdale plunged 4.57 percent, Poly Developments tanked 2.56 percent and China Vanke stumbled 3.43 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed but trended steadily lower as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow dropped 88.76 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 46,292.78, while the NASDAQ shed 215.50 points or 0.95 percent to end at 22,573.47 and the S&P 500 sank 36.83 points or 0.55 percent to close at 6,656.92.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street may partly have reflected concerns that stocks are overvalued following comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Speaking at an event Rhode Island, Powell described equity prices as "fairly highly valued" following the recent run to record highs.

Powell also addressed the outlook for monetary policy, noting that the Fed is facing a "challenging situation" as near-term risks to inflation are tilted to the upside and risks to employment to the downside.

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Tuesday as Iraq's earlier-announced plans to export oil to Turkey from Kurdistan stalled due to payment issues. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.26 or 2.02 percent at $63.54 per barrel.