China Shares Tipped To Open Under Pressure On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had given up more than 60 points or 1.9 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index new sits just above the 3,225-point plateau and it may take further damage on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to ongoing concerns over the economy and the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Tuesday as losses from the resource stocks and energy producers were mitigated by support from the financial shares and properties.

For the day, the index lost 13.51 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 3,227.22 after trading between 3,212.63 and 3,243.75. The Shenzhen Composite Index shed 10.02 points or 0.47 percent to end at 2,137.72.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.69 percent, while Bank of China rose 0.33 percent, China Construction Bank added 0.37 percent, China Merchants Bank strengthened 1.53 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 1.65 percent, Jiangxi Copper dropped 0.89 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tumbled 1.70 percent, Yankuang Energy plummeted 5.81 percent, PetroChina dipped 0.18 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) improved 0.70 percent, Huaneng Power surrendered 1.93 percent, China Shenhua Energy plunged 4.27 percent, Gemdale climbed 1.57 percent, Poly Developments rallied 2.05 percent, China Vanke spiked 2.06 percent, China Fortune Land gained 1.06 percent and Bank of Communications and Beijing Capital Development were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages shook off early support on Tuesday, quickly heading south and remaining in the red for the rest of the session.

The Dow tumbled 308.12 points or 0.96 percent to finish at 31,790.87, while the NASDAQ dropped 134.53 points or 1.12 percent to close at 11,883.14 and the S&P 500 sank 44.45 points or 1.10 percent to end at 3,986.16.

The extended sell-off reflected lingering concerns about the outlook for interest rates and the impact further rate hikes will have on the economy.

Stocks have been under pressure since Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said last Friday that the central bank plans to continue aggressively raising interest rates. Powell suggested that even after the Fed finishes tightening monetary policy, rates will remain at higher levels to ensure inflation remains contained.

In economic news, the Conference Board said that consumer confidence rebounded by more than expected in August. Also, the Labor Department said the number of job openings was little changed at 11.2 million on the last business day of July.

The price of crude oil showed a substantial move to the downside during trading on Tuesday amid concerns higher interest rates will lead to a global economic slowdown, reducing energy demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery plunged $5.37 or 5 percent to $91.64 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will see August results for its manufacturing, non-manufacturing and composite indexes later this morning; in July, their scores were 49.0, 53.8 and 52.5, respectively.