Soft Start Called For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the eight-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 300 points or 10.9 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 2,960-point plateau and it's due for further consolidation on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is one of caution ahead of key U.S. inflation data later today. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.

For the day, the index tumbled 57.63 points or 1.91 percent to finish at the daily low of 2,957.85 after peaking at 3,031.49. The Shenzhen Composite Index plummeted 65.09 points or 3.79 percent to end at 1,651.49.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.57 percent, while China Construction Bank shed 0.57 percent, China Merchants Bank lost 0.50 percent, Bank of Communications slid 0.48 percent, China Life Insurance slumped 1.32 percent, Jiangxi Copper retreated 1.43 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tumbled 1.65 percent, Yankuang Energy skidded 1.18 percent, PetroChina fell 0.45 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) dropped 0.96 percent, Huaneng Power surged 3.01 percent, China Shenhua Energy climbed 1.09 percent, Gemdale plunged 2.75 percent, Poly Developments declined 1.52 percent, China Vanke slumped 1.29 percent and Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened sharply lower on Wednesday, pared their losses as the day progressed but still ended in the red.

The Dow shed 23.39 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 38,949.02, while the NASDAQ dropped 87.56 points or 0.55 percent and the S&P 500 sank 8.42 points or 0.17 percent to end at 5,069.76.

The early weakness on Wall Street came as traders looked to cash in on the recent strength in the markets ahead of the release of closely watched readings on consumer price inflation later today.

With Federal Reserve officials saying they need greater confidence inflation is slowing before they consider cutting interest rates, the data could have a significant impact on the outlook for rates.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said the jump by real gross domestic product in the fourth quarter was downwardly revised to 3.2 percent from the previously reported 3.3 percent.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday after data showed a much larger than expected increase in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended down $0.33 or 0.42 percent at $78.54 a barrel.