Lower Open Called For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market bounced higher again on Wednesday, one day after snapping the three-day winning streak in which it had improved almost 90 points or 2.8 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,350-point plateau although it may open in the red on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Wednesday as gains from the financial shares and property stocks were capped by weakness from the resource companies.

For the day, the index gained 28.33 points or 0.85 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,346.39 after trading as low as 3,310.39. The Shenzhen Composite Index climbed 25.98 points or 1.29 percent to end at 2,033.97.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China gained 1.17 percent, while Bank of China rose 0.37 percent, China Construction Bank strengthened 1.51 percent, China Merchants Bank rallied 1.56 percent, Agricultural Bank of China collected 0.59 percent, China Life Insurance climbed 1.11 percent, Jiangxi Copper slumped 1.55 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tumbled 2.04 percent, Yankuang Energy shed 0.75 percent, PetroChina eased 0.12 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) dipped 0.16 percent, China Shenhua Energy sank 0.86 percent, Gemdale surged 4.57 percent, Poly Developments soared 3.62 percent, China Vanke skyrocketed 9.94 percent and Huaneng Power was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened lower and largely stayed that way, although the NASDAQ peeked up into the green by the close.

The Dow dropped 225.09 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 44,368.56, while the NASDAQ perked 6.10 points or 0.03 percent to close at 19,649.95 and the S&P 500 lost 16.53 points or 0.27 percent to end at 6,051.97.

The early sell-off on Wall Street came following the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased by more than expected in January.

The hotter than expected inflation data increased speculation the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates on hold for a prolonged period.

Oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday, weighed down by data showing a larger than expected increase in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures settled lower by $1.95 or about 2.66 percent at $71.37 a barrel, falling after three successive days of gains.