Losing Streak May Continue For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, slumping almost 25 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,040-point plateau although it's likely to open in the red again on Thursday.

The global forecast is mixed and flat amid a lack of catalysts, with expected weakness from the technology stocks likely offset by gains from the oil companies. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday as losses from the financial shares and properties were offset by support from the resource stocks.

For the day, the index shed 12.10 points or 0.40 percent to finish at 3,043.83 after trading between 3,031.90 and 3,061.95. The Shenzhen Composite Index eased 2.01 points or 0.11 percent to end at 1,768.56.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 0.58 percent, while Agricultural Bank of China sank 0.48 percent, China Construction Bank dipped 0.15 percent, China Merchants Bank retreated 1.35 percent, Bank of Communications fell 0.32 percent, China Life Insurance plummeted 3.47 percent, Jiangxi Copper added 0.65 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) climbed 1.26 percent, Yankuang Energy shed 0.49 percent, PetroChina perked 0.12 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rose 0.33 percent, Huaneng Power gained 0.44 percent, China Shenhua Energy slid 0.30 percent, Gemdale plunged 3.30 percent, Poly Developments tanked 2.91 percent and China Vanke tumbled 3.10 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday and finished the same way, little changed.

The Dow added 37.83 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 39,043.32, while the NASDAQ sank 87.87 points or 0.54 percent to close at 16,177.77 and the S&P 500 fell 9.96 points or 0.19 percent to end at 5.165.31.

The pullback by the Nasdaq partly reflected weakness in the tech sector, with AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) slumping by 1.1 percent.

Overall trading activity remained subdued ahead of several key reports in the coming days, including producer prices, jobless claims, industrial production and retail sales.

Oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while supply disruptions in Russia also contributed to the rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April rose $2.16 or 2.8 percent at $79.72 a barrel.