China Stock Market: Resistance Expected At 3,400 Points

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, collecting more than 75 points or 2.4 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,390-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amid mixed economic and earnings data. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished slightly higher on Tuesday as gains from the financials were offset by weakness from the properties and resource stocks.

For the day, the index rose 7.72 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 3,393.33 after trading between 3,375.78 and 3,396.17. The Shenzhen Composite Index dipped 2.61 points or 0.12 percent to end at 2,138.79.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China advanced 0.85 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.56 percent, China Construction Bank added 0.48 percent, China Merchants Bank strengthened 1.36 percent, Bank of Communications improved 0.73 percent, China Life Insurance surged 5.11 percent, Jiangxi Copper dropped 0.93 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) retreated 1.36 percent, Yankuang Energy rallied 2.22 percent, PetroChina sank 0.68 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) fell 0.31 percent, Huaneng Power plunged 3.59 percent, China Shenhua Energy climbed 1.14 percent, Poly Developments dropped 0.94 percent, China Vanke eased 0.19 percent, China Fortune Land slumped 1.23 percent and Gemdale was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street provides little guidance as the major averages opened mixed and hugged the unchanged line throughout the session, finally ending on opposite sides and barely moved.

The Dow shed 10.55 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 33,976.63, while the NASDAQ dipped 4.31 points or 0.04 percent to close at 12,153.41 and the S&P 600 rose 3.55 points or 0.09 percent to end at 4,154.87.

Traders were unhappy with remarks from St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard, who said that he favored continued interest-rate hikes to counter persistent inflation and added that recession fears are overblown.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said U.S. housing starts slid by 0.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.420 million in March from a revised rate of 1.432 million in February.

In earnings news, Bank of America, Johnson & Johnson and Netflix all beat the street, while Goldman Sachs and United Airlines missed expectations.

Oil futures settled slightly higher Tuesday as traders assessed Chinese GDP numbers and data showing a drop in eurozone and German investor sentiment. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May rose $0.03 at $80.86 a barrel.