Soft Start Anticipated For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, improving more than 40 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,115-point plateau although it's expected to open under pressure on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower thanks to rising recession fears. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the energy and resource companies and mixed performance from the financials and properties.

For the day, the index advanced 27.25 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 3,116.51 after trading between 3,073.05 and 3,119.86. The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 28.51 points or 1.44 percent to end at 2,004.12.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.69 percent, while China Merchants Bank collected 0.86 percent, China Life Insurance retreated 1.13 percent, Jiangxi Copper rose 0.40 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) strengthened 1.57 percent, Yankuang Energy added 0.48 percent, PetroChina improved 0.80 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) advanced 0.92 percent, Huaneng Power surged 3.94 percent, China Shenhua Energy jumped 1.41 percent, Gemdale plunged 2.25 percent, Poly Developments rallied 1.92 percent, China Vanke was up 0.16 percent, China Fortune Land sank 0.80 percent and Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Bank of Communications were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages shook off early support on Tuesday, quickly turning lower and spending the rest of the day in the red.

The Dow shed 1088 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 33,136.37, while the NASDAQ lost 79.50 points or 0.76 percent to end at 10,386.98 and the S&P 500 fell 15.36 points or 0.40 percent to close at 3,824.14.

The early strength on Wall Street came as traders looked to get the New Year started on a positive note following a dismal 2022. For last year, the NASDAQ plummeted 33.1 percent, the S&P 500 lost 19.4 percent and the Dow sank 8.8 percent.

A report from the International Monetary Fund says about one third of the world economy will likely go into a recession this year. A rebound from treasuries also added to the negative sentiment.

A report released by the Commerce Department unexpectedly showed a modest increase in U.S. construction spending in the month of November.

Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to rising fears of a recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended down $3.33 or 4.2 percent at $76.93 a barrel, a two-week low.