Lower Open Anticipated For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 70 points or 2.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,080-point plateau although it's expected to open in the red again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on apprehension over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished slightly higher on Thursday as gains from the resource stocks were capped by weakness from the financial shares and properties.

For the day, the index picked up 3.84 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 3,082.24 after trading between 3,072.95 and 3,106.18. The Shenzhen Composite Index added 9.38 points or 0.49 percent to end at 1,911.24.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China skidded 1.08 percent, while Bank of China retreated 1.31 percent, China Construction Bank declined 1.49 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 0.68 percent, Bank of Communications fell 0.36 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 0.83 percent, Jiangxi Copper advanced 0.91 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) spiked 2.06 percent, Yankuang Energy tanked 2.11 percent, PetroChina slumped 1.16 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) sank 0.81 percent, Huaneng Power shed 0.58 percent, China Shenhua Energy weakened 0.82 percent, Gemdale plunged 3.01 percent, Poly Developments lost 0.95 percent and China Vanke surrendered 0.80 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but quickly turned lower and finished deep under water.

The Dow plunged 373.56 points or 1.08 percent to finish at 34,099.42, while the NASDAQ tumbled 257.06 points or 1.87 percent to close at 13,463.97 and the S&P 500 sank 59.70 points or 1.35 percent to end at 4,376.31.

The initial strength on Wall Street reflected a positive reaction to Q2 results from chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA), which reported strong earnings and guidance after markets close on Wednesday.

Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, with concerns about the outlook for interest rates continuing to weigh on the markets ahead of the economic symposium later today in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods tumbled more than expected in July. Also, the Labor Department noted a modest decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Crude oil futures settled higher Thursday on expectations that Saudi Arabia will extend its production cut into the next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $0.16 or 0.2 percent at $79.05 a barrel.