China Stock Market May Crack 3,300-Point Barrier

(RTTNews) - The China stock market rebounded on Wednesday, one session after halting the four-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 65 points or 2.1 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,285-point plateau and it's got a solid lead for Thursday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat after the Federal Reserve didn't raise its benchmark lending rate more than expected on Wednesday. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were firmly higher and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the resource stocks, losses from the properties and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index advanced 29.25 points or 0.90 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,284.92 after moving as low as 3,245.41. The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 31.03 points or 1.45 percent to end at 2,173.59.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 0.23 percent, while China Construction Bank perked 0.18 percent, China Merchants Bank retreated 1.63 percent, Bank of Communications collected 0.21 percent, China Life Insurance fell 0.29 percent, Jiangxi Copper strengthened 1.39 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) surged 4.73 percent, Yankuang Energy rose 0.23 percent, PetroChina added 0.58 percent, Huaneng Power improved 1.47 percent, China Shenhua Energy lost 0.39 percent, Gemdale shed 0.61 percent, Poly Developments dropped 0.89 percent, China Vanke sank 0.55 percent and Bank of China and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages opened slightly lower on Wednesday and spent most of the day that way before a late push bumped them into the green.

The Dow rose 6.92 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 23,092.96, while the NASDAQ surged 231.77 points or 2.00 percent to close at 11,816.32 and the S&P 500 jumped 42.61 points or 1.05 percent to end at 4,119.21.

The late-day rally on Wall Street came after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to raise interest rates by another quarter point and signaled further rate hikes. The latest interest rate hike comes after the central bank raised rates by 75 basis points in November and by 50 basis points in December.

The Fed also said it anticipates ongoing increases in interest rates will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP said private sector job growth slowed more than expected in January. Also, the Institute for Supply Management said activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector contracted for the third consecutive month in January.

Oil prices fell to a three-week low on Wednesday, weighed down by data showing an increase in crude inventories last week in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March sank $2.46 or 3.1 percent at $76.41 a barrel.