Rally May Stall For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has tracked higher in consecutive trading days, advancing more than a dozen points or 0.4 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 2,900-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative thanks to dwindling hopes for an interest rate cut in the near future. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index gained 7.70 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 2,893.99 after trading between 2,861.13 and 2,896.68. The Shenzhen Composite Index eased 0.56 points or 0.03 percent to end at 1,743.02.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.62 percent, while Bank of China added 0.49 percent, China Construction Bank and Huaneng Power both gained 0.46 percent, China Merchants Bank rallied 1.25 percent, Bank of Communications rose 0.34 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 1.97 percent, Jiangxi Copper perked 0.11 percent, PetroChina gathered 0.14 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) was up 0.18 percent, China Shenhua Energy improved 0.71 percent, Gemdale slumped 1.19 percent, Poly Developments skidded 1.11 percent, China Vanke sank 1.03 percent and Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and largely remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow tumbled 231.86 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 37,361.12, while the NASDAQ shed 28.41 points or 0.19 percent to close at 14,944.35 and the S&P 500 sank 17.85 points or 0.37 percent to end at 4,765.98.

The weakness on Wall Street came was the result of higher Treasury yields and concerns that the Federal Reserve may not cut interest rates anytime soon.

In addition to digesting some hawkish comments from some central bank officials, investors also reacted to disappointing quarterly earnings updates from major companies such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

In economic news, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that the Empire State Manufacturing Index plunged to -43.7 in January, the lowest reading since May 2020.

Oil futures settled lower on Tuesday as a stronger dollar and forecasts that weather in the U.S. will be warmer than normal weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended down $0.28 at $72.40 a barrel.