China Stock Market Tipped To Open Under Water

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than a dozen points or 0.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 2,830-point plateau and it's expected to open lower again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Wednesday with damage in most sectors, including finance, resource, energy and property.

For the day, the index lost 60.37 points or 2.09 percent to finish at the daily low of 2,833.62 after peaking at 2,887.49. The Shenzhen Composite Index stumbled 44.33 points or 2.54 percent to end at 1,698.70.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China skidded 1.02 percent, while Bank of China dropped 0.98 percent, China Construction Bank sank 0.91 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 0.21 percent, Bank of Communications shed 0.85 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 2.12 percent, Jiangxi Copper retreated 2.53 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plunged 3.45 percent, Yankuang Energy declined 1.42 percent, PetroChina tumbled 1.91 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) weakened 1.29 percent, Huaneng Power slumped 1.16 percent, China Shenhua Energy fell 0.41 percent, Gemdale lost 2.66 percent, Poly Developments plummeted 2.80 percent and China Vanke surrendered 2.81 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened sharply lower on Wednesday and stayed that way, although they managed to finish well off session lows.

The Dow dropped 94.45 point or 0.25 percent to finish at 37,266.67, while the NASDAQ slumped 88.72 points or 0.59 percent to close at 14,855.62 and the S&P 500 lost 26.77 points or 0.56 percent to end at 4,739.21.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected ongoing uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates amid recent concerns the Federal Reserve won't lower rates as early as previously hoped.

Adding to worries the Fed will hold off on cutting rates, the Commerce Department released a report showing U.S. retail sales increased by more than expected in December.

A separate report from the Federal Reserve also showed an unexpected uptick in U.S. industrial production last month.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Wednesday, although concerns about the outlook for oil demand and a firm dollar limited the uptick in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for February rose $0.16 at $72.56 a barrel.