China Stock Market May Find Support On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has closed lower in five straight sessions, falling more than 105 points or 3.6 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,070-point plateau although it's overdue for support on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly positive on bargain hunting and expectations for solid earnings news. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The SCI finished slightly lower on Wednesday following losses from the energy and property stocks, while the resource companies and financials were mixed.

For the day, the index eased 5.36 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 3,068.41 after trading between 3,060.55 and 3,085.80. The Shenzhen Composite Index fell 9.29 points or 0.47 percent to end at 1,969.79.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.47 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.32 percent, China Construction Bank climbed 1.09 percent, China Merchants Bank added 0.64 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 1.99 percent, Jiangxi Copper gained 0.41 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) skidded 1.09 percent, Yankuang Energy sank 0.80 percent, PetroChina eased 0.20 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) increased 0.46 percent, Huaneng Power dropped 0.88 percent, China Shenhua Energy shed 0.64 percent, Gemdale gathered 0.48 percent, Poly Developments dipped 0.06 percent, China Vanke was down 0.05 percent, Beijing Capital Development lost 0.69 percent and China Fortune Land, China Minsheng Bank and Bank of Communications were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and remained solidly in the green throughout the session.

The Dow surged 526.74 points or 1.60 percent to finish at 33,376.48, while the NASDAQ spiked 162.26 points or 1.54 percent to end at 10,709.37 and the S&P 500 jumped 56.82 points or 1.49 percent to close at 3,878.44.

The rally on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from bargain hunting and upbeat earnings news from companies like Nike (NKE) and FedEx (FDX).

In economic news, the Conference Board reported a significant improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in December. But the National Association of Realtors noted a continued slump in U.S. existing home sales in November.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday after data showed a larger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended higher by $2.06 at $78.29 a barrel.