Rally May Stall For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has ticked higher in two straight sessions, collecting almost 20 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 4,150-point plateau and it's likely to stay in that neighborhood again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft amid geopolitical concerns, although support from gold and oil figure to limit the downside. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Wednesday as gains from the property and resource sectors were capped by weakness from the financial shares.

For the day, the index added 11.33 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 4,151.24 after trading between 4,138.02 and 4,170.15. The Shenzhen Composite Index dipped 0.21 points or 0.01 percent to end at 2,718.05.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 0.41 percent, while Bank of China perked 0.19 percent, Agricultural Bank of China retreated 1.31 percent, China Merchants Bank sank 0.79 percent, Bank of Communications dropped 0.91 percent, China Life Insurance fell 0.33 percent, Jiangxi Copper surged 5.79 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) skyrocketed 10.02 percent, Yankuang Energy accelerated 3.81 percent, PetroChina rallied 3.16 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.47 percent, Huaneng Power tumbled 1.81 percent, China Shenhua Energy vaulted 1.30 percent, Gemdale jumped 1.95 percent, Poly Developments soared 3.03 percent and China Vanke spiked 2.32 percent

The lead from Wall Street is of little help as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but tailed off and hugged the line, finishing mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 12.19 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 49,015.60, while the NASDAQ added 40.35 points or 0.17 percent to close at 23,857.45 and the S&P 500 dipped 0.57 points or 0.01 percent to end at 6,978.03.

The choppy trading on Wall Street continued after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged.

The Fed said the decision to keep rates steady came amid elevated uncertainty about the economic outlook. The central bank also said it remains attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate of maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the long run.

Despite the choppy trading by the broader markets, gold stocks moved sharply higher amid a continued surge by the price of the precious metal, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 2.7 percent to a new record closing high.

Crude oil prices soared on Wednesday as Iran rejected any nuclear talks under threat even as a massive U.S. armada nears the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $0.85 or 1.36 percent at $63.24 per barrel.