Losing Streak May Continue For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, slumping almost 20 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,125-point plateau and it may take further damage on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat following the release of U.S. inflation data that offered little clarity for interest rates. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following mixed performances from the financials, properties and resource stocks.

For the day, the index lost 13.99 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 3,123.07 after trading between 3,106.97 and 3,143.76. The Shenzhen Composite Index stumbled 21.83 points or 1.12 percent to end at 1,929.45.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.43 percent, while Bank of China and Bank of Communications both added 0.54 percent, China Construction Bank gained 0.66 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 0.40 percent, China Life Insurance perked 0.08 percent, Jiangxi Copper eased 0.05 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) improved 0.61 percent, Yankuang Energy jumped 1.88 percent, PetroChina rallied 2.10 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rose 0.32 percent, China Shenhua Energy strengthened 1.51 percent, Gemdale perked 0.28 percent, Poly Developments was up 0.07 percent, China Vanke slid 0.22 percent and Huaneng Power was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday, quickly plummeted and then recovered to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow sank 70.46 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 34,575.53, while the NASDAQ added 39.97 points or 0.29 percent to close at 13,813.58 and the S&P 500 rose 5.54 points or 0.12 percent to end at 4,467.44.

The choppy trading on Wall Street followed the release of the Labor Department's report on consumer price inflation in August. The report said the consumer price index climbed by 0.6 percent in August after inching up by 0.2 percent in July.

While the data reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged next week, many economists feel the bigger than expected monthly increase in core prices leaves the door open for another rate hike before the end of the year.

Following the report, CME Group's FedWatch Tool indicates a 97.0 percent chance the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged next week. The outlook for November remains more mixed, however, with the FedWatch Tool indicating a 58.0 percent chance rates will remain unchanged and a 40.8 percent chance of another quarter-point rate hike.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Wednesday on worries about demand after data showed an unexpected jump in U.S. crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October fell $0.32 or 0.4 percent at $88.52 a barrel.