Renewed Consolidation Anticipated For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Thursday ended the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 55 points or 1.7 percent. The Shanghai Composite now sits just beneath the 3,280-point plateau although it's expected to turn lower again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative, with pressure likely among technology stocks amid waning optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets finished firmly in the red and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the properties, weakness from the resource stocks and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index added 13.59 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 3,279.82 after trading between 3,252.39 and 3,295.74. The Shenzhen Composite Index gained 18.14 points or 0.92 percent to end at 1,991.76.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.50 percent, while Bank of China slid 0.21 percent, China Construction Bank perked 0.13 percent, China Merchants Bank retreated 1.37 percent, Agricultural Bank of China gained 0.42 percent, China Life Insurance skidded 1.18 percent, Jiangxi Copper slumped 0.98 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) sank 0.78 percent, Yankuang Energy shed 0.45 percent, PetroChina dipped 0.12 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) eased 0.16 percent, Huaneng Power rallied 2.11 percent, China Shenhua Energy dropped 0.99 percent, Gemdale surged 4.97 percent, Poly Developments climbed 1.22 percent and China Vanke added 0.65 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened solidly under water and stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow tumbled 378.08 points or 0.90 percent to finish at 41,763.46, while the NASDAQ plummeted 512.78 points or 2.76 percent to close at 18,095.15 and the S&P 500 slumped 108.22 points or 1.86 percent to end at 5,705.45.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid a negative reaction to earnings news from tech giants Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta Platforms (META).

Traders were also reacting to closely watched consumer price inflation data that largely came in line with economist estimates, although core CPI resisted lower forecasts to remain unchanged. That added to recent concerns the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates more slowly than hoped.

Oil prices climbed higher on Thursday amid expectations of increased demand from the U.S. and a likely delay in OPEC's planned output increase from December. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $0.65 or 0.95 percent at $69.26 a barrel.