China Stock Market May Stop The Bleeding On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, surrendering more than 50 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,355-point plateau although it may find traction on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, with oversold markets likely to rebound on possible easing inflation concerns. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index declined 48.68 points or 1.43 percent to finish at 3,355.35 after trading between 3,333.10 and 3,391.03. The Shenzhen Composite Index slumped 25.78 points or 1.15 percent to end at 2,207.20.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.42 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.30 percent, China Construction Bank lost 0.49 percent, China Merchants Bank tanked 2.88 percent, Bank of Communications dipped 0.20 percent, China Life Insurance skidded 1.10 percent, Jiangxi Copper plunged 3.81 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plummeted 3.54 percent, Yankuang Energy crashed 7.24 percent, PetroChina dropped 3.33 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) retreated 1.21 percent, Huaneng Power advanced 0.77 percent, China Shenhua Energy cratered 5.96 percent, Gemdale tumbled 2.49 percent, Poly Developments stumbled 1.40 percent, China Vanke slumped 2.84 percent and Beijing Capital Development surrendered 2.90 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages hugged the unchanged line for most of Wednesday's trade before a late rally pushed them into the green.

The Dow climbed 69.86 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 31,037.68, while the NASDAQ added 39.61 points or 0.35 percent to close at 11,361.85 and the S&P 500 rose 13.69 points or 0.36 percent to end at 3,845.08.

The late rally on Wall Street followed the release of the latest batch of minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting, which showed the central bank remains committed to bringing down inflation.

The minutes also said participants continued to anticipate that ongoing increases in the target range for the federal funds would be appropriate to achieve the monetary policy committee's objectives; another 50 or 75-basis point move is expected in the July meeting.

Crude oil futures settled lower Wednesday amid concerns about outlook for energy demand due to a surge in Covid-19 cases in China and fears over a possible recession, while a strong greenback also weighed. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for August ended lower by $0.97 or 1 percent at $98.53 a barrel.