China Shares May Take Further Damage On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has tracked lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 60 points or 2 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 2,970-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower ahead of key U.S. employment data later this week, while slumping oil prices also may weigh. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished slightly lower on Wednesday as losses from the financials and resource stocks were mitigated by support from the property sector.

For the day, the index eased 3.36 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 2,968.93 after trading between 2,959.60 and 2,985.31. The Shenzhen Composite Index added 10.13 points or 0.55 percent to end at 1,855.16.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China retreated 1.26 percent, while Bank of China declined 1.25 percent, China Construction Bank skidded 1.10 percent, China Merchants Bank advanced 0.91 percent, Bank of Communications dropped 1.04 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.17 percent, Jiangxi Copper eased 0.06 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) shed 0.56 percent, Yankuang Energy fell 0.25 percent, PetroChina plunged 3.54 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rose 0.19 percent, Huaneng Power sank 0.91 percent, China Shenhua Energy lost 0.77 percent, Gemdale jumped 1.81 percent, Poly Developments rallied 1.97 percent and China Vanke gained 0.56 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major average opened higher on Wednesday but couldn't hold the gains and eventually finished under water.

The Dow dropped 70.13 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 36,054.43, while the NASDAQ sank 83.20 points or 0.58 percent to end at 14,146.71 and the S&P 500 lost 17.84 points or 0.39 percent to close at 4,549.34.

The early strength on Wall Street followed the release of a report from payroll processor ADP showing private sector employment in the U.S. increased by less than expected in November.

The weaker than expected private sector job growth added to recent optimism the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates.

However, stocks retreated as traders chose to lighten commitments due to concerns about possible overbought conditions in the market ahead of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday, extending losses to a fifth straight day after data showed a large increase in gasoline inventories in the U.S. last week, raising concerns about the outlook for fuel demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January sank $2.94 or 4.1 percent at $69.38 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will on Thursday release November numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later this morning. In October, imports were up 3.0 percent on year and exports were down 6.4 percent for a trade surplus of $56.53 billion.