Soft Start Anticipated For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost 15 points or 0.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,860-point plateau although it's likely to open in the red again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of the FOMC's rate decision later today. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished barely higher on Tuesday following gains from the properties, weakness from the financials and resource companies and a mixed picture from the energy producers.

For the day, the index perked 1.36 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 3,861.86 after trading between 3,838.65 and 3,876.69. The Shenzhen Composite Index gained 18.35 points or 0.74 percent to end at 2,489.78.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.27 percent, while Bank of China dropped 0.92 percent, Agricultural Bank of China retreated 1.68 percent, China Merchants Bank skidded 1.11 percent, Bank of Communications slumped 1.27 percent, China Life Insurance fell 0.31 percent, Jiangxi Copper sank 0.73 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tanked 2.35 percent, Yankuang Energy advanced 0.98 percent, PetroChina declined 1.48 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) shed 0.72 percent, Huaneng Power contracted 1.31 percent, China Shenhua Energy added 0.58 percent, Gemdale rallied 2.11 percent, Poly Developments rose 0.25 percent and China Vanke climbed 1.00 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday but quickly turned lower and all ended under water.

The Dow slumped 125.55 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 45,757.90, while the NASDAQ fell 14.79 points or 0.07 percent to close at 22,333.75 and the S&P lost 8.52 points or 0.13 percent to end at 6,606.76.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as the Federal Reserve began its two-day monetary policy meeting.

While the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by 25 basis points, traders will look to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest economic projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

The Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another 25 basis points at both its October and December meetings, although Fed Chair Jerome Powell is likely to say future rate cuts will depend on incoming economic data.

Crude oil moved sharply higher on Tuesday amid the intensifying Russia-Ukraine war and ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later today. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.22 or 1.93 percent at $64.52 per barrel.