Continued Consolidation Predicted For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 50 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,265-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on fears of continued policy tightening and worldwide recession. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.

For the day, the index retreated 39.52 points or 1.20 percent to finish at 3,267.20 after trading between 3,266.54 and 3,311.02. The Shenzhen Composite Index slumped 27.47 points or 1.28 percent to end at 2,119.82.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 0.21 percent, while Bank of China shed 0.62 percent, China Construction Bank lost 0.50 percent, China Merchants Bank tumbled 2.53 percent, Bank of Communications and China Life both sank 0.60 percent, Jiangxi Copper skidded 1.18 percent, Aluminum Corporation of China retreated 1.47 percent, Yankuang Energy tanked 2.65 percent, China Petroleum & Chemical (Sinopec) dropped 0.98 percent, Gemdale surrendered 1.85 percent, Poly Developments declined 1.41 percent, China Vanke slumped 1.51 percent, China Fortune Land plunged 3.36 percent, Beijing Capital Development weakened 1.43 percent and Huaneng Power was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up slightly negative as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday, then spent most of the day in the green before slipping back into negative territory at the close.

The Dow shed 47.12 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 30,483.13, while the NASDAQ lost 16.22 points or 0.15 percent to close at 11,053.08 and the S&P 500 dipped 4.90 points or 0.13 percent to end at 3,759.89.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders reacted to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's testimony before the Senate Banking Committee. Powell indicated the Fed plans to continue moving expeditiously to combat inflation but argued the U.S. economy is strong enough to handle tighter monetary policy.

Powell said the pace of future interest rate hikes will be dependent on incoming data and the evolving outlook for the economy and suggested the Fed will need to see "compelling evidence" that inflation is slowing before it begins to scale back its monetary policy tightening plans.

Crude oil futures tumbled on Wednesday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to slowing global growth following sharp interest rate hikes by central banks. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $3.33 or 3 percent at $106.19 a barrel, the lowest settlement in six weeks.