Rally May Stall For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting more than 45 points or 1.1 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 4,010-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian bourse is negative, with technology and oil shares likely to lead the markets lower. The European and U.S. markets were solidly lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Thursday as gains from the resource and energy companies were offset by weakness from the financial shares and property stocks.

For the day, the index climbed 38.51 points or 0.97 percent to finish at 4,007.76 after trading between 3,973.35 and 4,008.80. The Shenzhen Composite Index improved 29.05 points or 1.16 percent to end at 2,526.94.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.61 percent, while Bank of China lost 0.53 percent, Agricultural Bank of China fell 0.24 percent, China Merchants Bank skidded 1.07 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 1.86 percent, Jiangxi Copper rallied 1.99 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) skyrocketed 10.03 percent, Yankuang Energy rose 0.32 percent, PetroChina added 0.63 percent, Huaneng Power strengthened 1.35 percent, China Shenhua Energy advanced 0.94 percent, Gemdale slumped 1.02 percent, Poly Developments dipped 0.14 percent, China Vanke sank 0.64 percent and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) and Bank of Communications were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened in the red on Thursday and spent the entire session under water, finishing near daily lows.

The Dow stumbled 398.70 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 46,912.30, while the NASDAQ plunged 445.80 points or 1.90 percent to close at 23,053.99 and the S&P 500 sank 75.97 points or 1.12 percent to end at 6,720.32.

The sharp pullback on Wall Street came on renewed weakness among artificial intelligence-related stocks, which led the sell-off on Tuesday. Concerns about an AI bubble and the possibility of a near-term correction have recently weighed on investors' minds.

Negative sentiment may also have been generated in reaction to a report from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showing a sharp increase in layoff announcements in the month of October.

Crude oil prices fell Thursday on oversupply concerns after the American Petroleum Institute revealed that U.S. crude oil inventories increased much more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.21 or 0.35 percent at $59.39 per barrel.