China Stock Market May Bounce Higher Again On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Tuesday ended the four-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 65 points or 2.1 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,255-point plateau although it figures to rebound on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision and accompanying statement later today. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Tuesday as losses from the financials were mitigated by support from the properties and resource stocks.

For the day, the index lost 13.65 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 3,255.67 after trading between 3,252.01 and 3,277.25.

Among the actives, Bank of China dipped 0.31 percent, while China Construction Bank fell 0.36 percent, China Merchants Bank tumbled 1.95 percent, Bank of Communications shed 0.61 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 2.18 percent, Jiangxi Copper perked 0.21 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) added 0.57 percent, Yankuang Energy improved 0.73 percent, PetroChina sank 0.77 percent, Huaneng Power surged 4.47 percent, China Shenhua Energy climbed 1.18 percent, Gemdale rallied 2.17 percent, Poly Developments jumped 1.35 percent, China Vanke advanced 1.11 percent, China Fortune Land surged 6.37 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened roughly flat on Tuesday but moved steadily higher as the day progressed.

The Dow climbed 368.95 points or 1.09 percent to finish at 34,086.04, while the NASDAQ jumped 190.74 points or 1.67 percent to close at 11,584.55 and the S&P 500 advanced 58.83 points or 1.46 percent to end at 4,076.60.

Recent data has reinforced the view that the central bank will likely slow the pace of its monetary policy tightening later today and raise interest rate by only 25 basis points.

The central bank's accompanying statement will be in focus for clues about further interest rate hikes.

In economic news, the Labor Department said employment cost index wages in the U.S. increased at a slower pace in Q4, while the Institute for Supply Management said the Chicago PMI contracted for the fifth straight month.

Crude oil futures moved higher on Tuesday on expectations the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates at a slower pace, so the greenback might strengthen less than expected. West Texas International Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $0.97 or 1.3 percent at $78.87 a barrel.