China Stock Market May Remain Rangebound On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 35 points or 1.2 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,230-point plateau although it may find renewed support on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged but said more rate hikes were likely before the end of the year. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished slightly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares and the property stocks.

For the day, the index dipped 4.68 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 3,228.99 after trading between 3,226.77 and 3,248.46. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 5.00 points or 0.25 percent to end at 2,038.80.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China plunged 2.60 percent, while Bank of China retreated 1.48 percent, China Construction Bank tanked 2.61 percent, China Merchants Bank skidded 1.01 percent, Bank of Communications tumbled 2.02 percent, China Life Insurance rose 0.16 percent, Jiangxi Copper advanced 0.90 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) rallied 2.17 percent, Yankuang Energy eased 0.11 percent, PetroChina dipped 0.13 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) perked 0.15 percent, Huaneng Power dropped 0.91 percent, China Shenhua Energy strengthened 1.38 percent, Gemdale slumped 2.07 percent, Poly Developments declined 1.18 percent, China Vanke stumbled 1.50 percent, China Fortune Land surrendered 2.16 percent and Beijing Capital Development sank 0.72 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed, tumbled after the Fed's policy statement but then rebounded to finish on opposite sides of the line.

The Dow slumped 232.79 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 33,979.33, while the NASDAQ added 53.16 points or 0.39 percent to close at 13,626.48 and the S&P 500 rose 3.58 points or 0.08 percent to end at 4,372.59.

The late-day volatility came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to pause its interest rate increases following 10 consecutive rate hikes but also forecast additional increases later this year.

However, the central bank's latest projections suggest the Fed plans to resume raising rates later this year, forecasting a rate of 5.6 percent by the end of 2023.

The forecast for additional rate hikes this year comes as the Fed raised its forecast for annual core consumer price growth to 3.9 percent from 3.6 percent.

Crude oil prices pared early gains and drifted lower Wednesday after data showed a notable increase in U.S. crude inventories last week, while a stronger greenback also weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July sank $1.15 or 1.7 percent at $68.27 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will provide May data for industrial production, retail sales, fixed asset investment and unemployment later this morning. Industrial output is tipped to add 3.8 percent on year, slowing from 5.6 percent in April. Retail sales are seen higher by an annual 13.7 percent, slowing from 18.4 percent a month earlier. FAI is predicted to rise 4.4 percent on year, down from 4.7 percent in the previous month. The jobless rate is called steady at 5.2 percent.