Consolidation Expected For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has climbed higher in four straight sessions, gathering almost 85 points or 2.6 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,245-point plateau although it's expected to spin its wheels on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growth concerns, with energy and technology stocks expected to weigh. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financials, properties and resource stocks.

For the day, the index added 10.50 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 3,247.43 after trading between 3,227.54 and 3,248.77. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 5.27 points or 0.24 percent to end at 2,188.49.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 0.23 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.33 percent, China Construction Bank collected 0.18 percent, China Merchants Bank dropped 0.91 percent, Bank of Communications eased 0.22 percent, China Life Insurance sank 0.79 percent, Jiangxi Copper was down 0.18 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) rose 0.22 percent, Yankuang Energy surged 5.27 percent, PetroChina gained 0.79 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.24 percent, Huaneng Power skidded 0.91 percent, China Shenhua Energy rallied 2.15 percent, Gemdale declined 0.88 percent, Poly Developments was up 0.13 percent, China Vanke slid 0.25 percent and China Fortune Land soared 2.75 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow shed 58.13 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 32,774.41, while the NASDAQ tumbled 150.53 points or 1.19 percent to end at 12,493.93 and the S&P 500 fell 17.59 points or 0.42 percent to close at 4,122.47.

Technology stocks helped to lead Wall Street lower, with semiconductor stocks turning in some of the worst performances after Micron Technology (MU) warned that it may miss its previous guidance.

The weakness also came as traders looked ahead to the release of a highly anticipated reading on U.S. consumer price inflation later today.

Crude oil futures settled modestly lower Tuesday on concerns about outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $0.26 or 0.3 percent at $90.50 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will release July figures for consumer and producer prices later today. Overall consumer prices are expected to rise 0.5 percent on month and 2.9 percent on year following the flat monthly reading and the 2.5 percent yearly gain in June. Producer prices are tipped to rise 4.8 percent on year, easing from 6.1 percent in the previous month.