China Stock Market May Hand Back Wednesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The China stock market bounced higher again on Wednesday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had gained more than 60 points or 1.7 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,770-point plateau although it may open under pressure again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, with technology stocks expected to continue to weigh. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The SCI finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.

For the day, the index improved 38.92 points or 1.04 percent to finish at 3,766.21 after trading between 3,704.99 and 3,767.43. The Shenzhen Composite Index gained 19.00 points or 0.81 percent to end at 2,362.74.

Among the actives, Bank of China spiked 1.98 percent, while Agricultural Bank of China jumped 0.85 percent, China Merchants Bank gathered 0.12 percent, Bank of Communications collected 0.40 percent, China Life Insurance improved 0.79 percent, Jiangxi Copper strengthened 1.26 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) gained 0.52 percent, Yankuang Energy was up 0.08 percent, PetroChina climbed 1.17 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) expanded 0.88 percent, Huaneng Power increased 0.41 percent, China Shenhua Energy advanced 0.94 percent, Gemdale perked 0.25 percent, Poly Developments added 0.64 percent, China Vanke rose 0.31 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be soft as the major averages spent most of Wednesday in the red and finally finished mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 16.04 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 44,938.31, while the NASDAQ sank 142.09 points or 0.67 percent to end at 21,172.86 and the S&P 500 fell 15.59 points or 0.24 percent to close at 6,395.78.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected an extended sell-off by technology stocks following reports indicating the Trump administration is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's highly anticipated speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday.

Powell's remarks could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Fed's next monetary policy meeting in September. CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 82.9 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point next month.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration said crude oil inventories in the U.S. decreased much more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was up $0.79 or 1.3 percent at $63.14 a barrel.