Renewed Selling Pressure Expected For China Shares

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day slide in which it had eased just 3 points or 0.1 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,375-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild downside ahead of key inflation data later in the day. The European and U.S. markets saw mild downside and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SCI finished slightly higher on Thursday as gains from the financials and oil companies were capped by weakness from the property sector.

For the day, the index rose 5.05 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 3,373.75 after trading between 3,351.17 and 3,394.03. The Shenzhen Composite Index eased 1.51 points or 0.07 percent to end at 2,044.61.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China gained 0.59 percent, while Bank of China advanced 0.91 percent, China Construction Bank added 0.47 percent, China Merchants Bank jumped 1.41 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.64 percent, Jiangxi Copper plunged 3.03 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) fell 0.39 percent, Yankuang Energy was down 0.14 percent, PetroChina improved 0.86 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) strengthened 1.22 percent, Huaneng Power retreated 1.13 percent, China Shenhua Energy dipped 0.13 percent, Gemdale sank 0.65 percent, Poly Developments lost 0.47 percent, China Vanke shed 0.42 percent and Agricultural Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and bounced back and forth across the line before finishing modestly lower.

The Dow dropped 155.09 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 42,299.70, while the NASDAQ slumped 94.98 points or 0.53 percent to close at 17,804.03 and the S&P 500 sank 18.89 points or 0.33 percent to end at 5,693.31.

The lower close on Wall Street came amid ongoing concerns about President Donald Trump's trade policies after he announced plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on auto imports.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the Federal Reserve's preferred readings on consumer price inflation later today.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department said the economy grew slightly faster than estimated in the fourth quarter of 2024. Also, the National Association of Realtors said pending home sales saw a significant rebound in February after plunging to an all-time low in January.

Oil prices moved higher Thursday on supply concerns after data showed a sharp drop in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May closed up $0.19 or about 0.27 percent at $69.84 a barrel.