Steady Start Eyed For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting almost 15 points or 0.4 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,350-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative after U.S. President Donald Trump outlined his plan to impose sweeping tariffs on U.S. trade partners. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the former lead.

The SCI finished barely higher on Wednesday following gains from the financials, weakness from the resource stocks and mixed performances from the oil and property companies.

For the day, the index perked 1.69 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 3,350.13 after trading between 3,343.12 and 3,361.13. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 2.38 points or 0.12 percent to end at 2,014.59.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China improved 0.74 percent, while Bank of China strengthened 1.27 percent, China Construction Bank rallied 1.15 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 0.33 percent, Agricultural Bank of China collected 0.78 percent, China Life Insurance perked 0.03 percent, Jiangxi Copper retreated 1.51 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tumbled 1.97 percent, Yankuang Energy slumped 1.19 percent, PetroChina sank 0.97 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rose 0.35 percent, Huaneng Power fell 0.28 percent, Gemdale climbed 1.12 percent, Poly Developments added 0.61 percent, China Vanke dropped 0.98 percent and China Shenhua Energy was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages shook off a soft open on Wednesday and tracked generally higher throughout the session.

The Dow jumped 235.36 points or 0.56 percent to finish at 42,225.32, while the NASDAQ advanced 151.16 points or 0.87 percent to close at 17,601.05 and the S&P 500 improved 37.90 points or 0.67 percent to end at 5,670.97.

The early weakness on Wall Street came amid concerns about the impact of Trump's reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trade partners.

However, traders then saw the early slump as an opportunity to pick up stocks at reduced levels, leading to the subsequent rebound.

In U.S. economic news, payroll processor ADP said private sector employment in the U.S. increased more than expected in March. Also, the Commerce Department said factory orders increased more than anticipated in February.

Crude oil prices ticked higher again on Wednesday, despite data showing an unexpected increase by U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery rose $0.51 or 0.7 percent to $71.71 a barrel.