Solid Return Expected For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of the long break for the Lunar New Year, the China stock market had ended the two-day winning streak in which it had improved almost 40 points or 1.2 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,250-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside on Wednesday as it catches up on missed sentiment.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on easing concerns of a trade war. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished barely lower on Jan. 27 as losses from the property and resource stocks were offset by gains from the financials and oil companies.

For the day, the index the index dipped 2.03 points or 0.06 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,250.60 after peaking at 3,274.39. The Shenzhen Composite Index stumbled 25.26 points or 1.30 percent to end at 1,911.09.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China jumped 2.25 percent, while Bank of China surged 2.64 percent, China Construction Bank collected 1.55 percent, China Merchants Bank advanced 0.97 percent, Agricultural Bank of China soared 2.38 percent, China Life Insurance shed 0.66 percent, Jiangxi Copper eased 0.09 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) declined 1.40 percent, Yankuang Energy improved 0.82 percent, PetroChina strengthened 1.34 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.66 percent, Huaneng Power spiked 2.82 percent, China Shenhua Energy rallied 2.35 percent, Poly Developments slumped 1.19 percent, China Vanke retreated 1.61 percent and Gemdale was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday but trended upward throughout the session to finish solidly in the green and at session highs.

The Dow climbed 134.13 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 44,556.04, while the NASDAQ rallied 262.06 points or 1.35 percent to close at 19,654.02 and the S&P 500 gained 43.31 points or 0.72 percent to end at 6,037.88.

The strength on Wall Street partly reflected easing concerns about a global trade war after President Donald Trump agreed to pause 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for a month.

Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to a report from the Labor Department showing job openings in the U.S. fell by much more than expected in December.

The data led to some optimism about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the release of the Labor Department's more closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday as Trump agreed to postpone levies on Canada and Mexico's exports to the United States. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March settled at $72.70 a barrel, down $0.46 or about $0.63 percent.