China Bourse May Extend Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, slumping more than 20 points or 0.4 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,410-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on lingering concerns over tariffs and the health of the world economy. The European and U.S. markets both were slightly lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Thursday as losses from the financial shares and property stocks were mitigated by support from the resource companies.

For the day, the index shed 17.48 points or 0.51 percent to finish at 3,408.95 after trading between 3,404.66 and 3,427.05. The Shenzhen Composite Index slid 12.59 points or 0.60 percent to end at 2,101.54.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.44 percent, while Bank of China dipped 0.18 percent, China Construction Bank lost 0.47 percent, China Merchants Bank retreated 1.69 percent, Agricultural Bank of China slumped 0.58 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 3.11 percent, Jiangxi Copper added 0.58 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) gained 0.65 percent, Yankuang Energy rose 0.37 percent, PetroChina advanced 0.89 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) perked 0.17 percent, Huaneng Power strengthened 1.46 percent, China Shenhua Energy was up 0.19 percent, Gemdale declined 0.63 percent, Poly Developments fell 0.35 percent and China Vanke was down 0.54 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages were unable to hold early gains on Thursday, slipping slightly under water by the close.

The Dow shed 11.31 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 41,953.32m while the NASDAQ lost 59.16 points or 0.33 percent to close at 17,691.16 and the S&P 500 fell 12.40 points or 0.22 percent to end at 5,662.89.

The modestly lower close on Wall Street came amid lingering concerns about the economic outlook following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

The Fed announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged, but forecasts suggest officials still expect to resume cutting rates later this year.

However, the Fed officials also lowered their projections for GDP growth in 2025 to 1.7 percent from 2.1 percent and raised their forecasts for consumer price growth this year to 2.7 percent from 2.5 percent.

Oil prices climbed higher on Thursday after the U.S. slapped fresh sanctions on Iran. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $1.10 or about 1.6 percent at $68.26 a barrel on the expiration day.