China Bourse Expected To End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has tracked lower in consecutive trading days, giving away more than 25 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,040-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on continued optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the property and resource stocks, while the financials were mixed.

For the day, the index lost 24.32 points or 0.79 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,043.61 after peaking at 3,067.96. The Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 23.21 points or 1.20 percent to end at 1,905.80.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 0.21 percent, while China Construction Bank shed 0.47 percent, China Merchants Bank dropped 0.89 percent, Bank of Communications collected 0.51 percent, China Life Insurance lost 0.54 percent, Jiangxi Copper skidded 1.06 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plunged 2.74 percent, Yankuang Energy fell 0.36 percent, PetroChina eased 0.14 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) sank 0.55 percent, Huaneng Power rose 0.26 percent, China Shenhua Energy slid 0.20 percent, Gemdale tumbled 1.96 percent, Poly Developments retreated 1.09 percent, China Vanke clumped 0.67 percent and Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and remained in the green throughout the session.

The Dow jumped 184.74 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 35,273.03, while the NASDAQ gained 65.88 points or 0.46 percent to end at 14,265.86 and the S&P 500 rose 18.43 points or 0.41 percent to close at 4,556.62.

The strength on Wall Street came as continued optimism about the outlook for interest rates contributed to renewed buying interest following the previous day's pullback.

While the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting failed to provide any indications the central bank plans to cut interest rates in the near future, CME Group's FedWatch Tool suggests the next move will be a rate cut in mid-2024.

In economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week. Also, the Commerce Department said new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods pulled back by much more than expected in October.

Crude oil futures settled lower Wednesday after data showed a notable increase in crude inventory in the U.S., and after OPEC postponed a key meeting by four days. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down $0.67 or 0.86 percent at $77.10 a barrel.