Rebound Predicted For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market turned lower again on Wednesday, one day after snapping the three-day losing streak in which it had retreated almost 70 points or 2.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,225-point plateau although it's likely to move back to the upside on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive as U.S. inflation data eased concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets finished solidly higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday as losses from the properties and resource stocks were mitigated by support from the financial sector.

For the day, the index shed 13.82 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 3,227.12 after trading between 3,222.24 and 3,245.90. The Shenzhen Composite Index sank 14.71 points or 0.77 percent to end at 1,901.14.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rose 0.30 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.37 percent, China Merchants Bank jumped 1.98 percent, Agricultural Bank of China added 0.40 percent, China Life Insurance shed 0.65 percent, Jiangxi Copper skidded 1.09 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tumbled 1.86 percent, Yankuang Energy fell 0.37 percent, PetroChina lost 0.45 percent, Huaneng Power gained 0.47 percent, China Shenhua Energy dipped 0.28 percent, Gemdale climbed 1.12 percent, Poly Developments sank 0.46 percent, China Vanke dropped 0.72 percent and China Construction Bank and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened firmly higher and stayed that way throughout the session.

The Dow surged 703.27 points or 1.65 percent to finish at 43,221.55, while the NASDAQ rallied 466.84 points or 2.45 percent to close at 19,511.23 and the S&P 500 jumped 107.00 points or 1.83 percent to end at 5,949.91.

The rally on Wall Street was a positive reaction to the Labor Department's closely watched report on consumer price inflation in December. While the report showed consumer prices rose slightly more than expected in December, the annual rate of core consumer price growth unexpectedly slowed.

Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to upbeat earnings news from financial giants JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Citigroup (C).

Oil prices spiked Wednesday as crude inventories in the U.S. dropped last week, while possible supply disruptions due to new sanctions against Russia also supported prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February rose $2.54 or 3.3 percent at $80.04 a barrel.