Little Movement Seen For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, dipping just six points or 0.2 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,050-point plateau and it's likely to remain rangebound again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is rudderless amidst a lack of catalysts. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The SCI finished slightly lower again on Wednesday as losses from the resource stocks were mitigated by support from the property sector and a mixed picture from the financials.

For the day, the index eased 4.90 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 3,052.37 after trading between 3,037.29 and 3,062.99. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 2.63 points or 0.14 percent to end at 1,920.84.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 0.21 percent, while Bank of China slid 0.26 percent, China Construction Bank perked 0.16 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 0.65 percent, China Life Insurance retreated 1.62 percent, Jiangxi Copper declined 1.39 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) stumbled 1.20 percent, Yankuang Energy skidded 1.01 percent, PetroChina dropped 0.85 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) slumped 1.12 percent, China Shenhua Energy added 0.37 percent, Gemdale surged 3.83 percent, Poly Developments gained 0.45 percent, China Vanke jumped 1.68 percent and Bank of Communications and Huaneng Power were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher, quickly dipped into the red and finished mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 40.33 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 34,112.27, while the NASDAQ rose 10.56 points or 0.08 percent to close at 13,650.41 and the S&P 500 perked 4.40 points or 0.10 percent to end at 4,382.78.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves following recent strength in the markets.

Amid the focus on the outlook for interest rates, traders kept a close eye on remarks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell - but he refrained from specifically addressing monetary policy, focusing instead on praise for the work done by the Fed's Division of Research and Statistics.

Traders also shrugged off results of the Treasury Department's auction of $40 billion worth of ten-year notes, which attracted average demand.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday amid concerns about the outlook for demand and a jump in U.S. crude oil inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December lost $2.04 or about 2.6 percent at $75.33 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will release October figures for consumer prices later this morning. Overall inflation is expected to ease 0.2 percent on year following the flat reading in September, while producer prices are tipped to contract an annual 2.8 percent after falling 2.5 percent in the previous month.