More Pain Predicted For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has tracked lower in back-to-back sessions, surrendering more than 40 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,250-point plateau and it's likely to extend its losses on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the resource stocks and properties, while the financials came in mixed.

For the day, the index dropped 31.46 points or 0.96 percent to finish at 3,249.03 after trading between 3,231.34 and 3,308.83. The Shenzhen Composite Index tumbled 37.28 points or 1.70 percent to finish at 2,150.23.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 0.23 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.31 percent, China Merchants Bank rose 0.27 percent, Bank of Communications dipped 0.21 percent, China Life Insurance and Huaneng Power both dropped 0.98 percent, Jiangxi Copper plunged 3.09 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plummeted 3.83 percent, Yankuang Energy retreated 1.53 percent, China Shenhua Energy skidded 1.14 percent, Gemdale eased 0.10 percent, Poly Developments lost 0.46 percent, China Vanke was down 0.06 percent, China Fortune Land tanked 2.24 percent and China Construction Bank, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) and PetroChina were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Thursday, pared the losses midday but then slumped again to finish near session lows.

The Dow plunged 431.20 points or 1.26 percent to finish at 33,696.85, while the NASDAQ tumbled 214.76 points or 1.78 percent to close at 11,855.83 and the S&P 500 dropped 57.19 points or 1.38 percent to end at 4,090.41.

The steep drop on Wall Street followed the Labor Department report showing a bigger than expected increase in producer prices, leading to renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

A separate Labor Department report showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged slightly lower last week.

Oil futures settled lower on Thursday, extending losses to a third straight session on recent data showing a surge in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended down $0.10 at $78.49 a barrel.