China Stock Market May Run Out Of Steam On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished higher in three straight sessions, improving more than 60 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,245-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement amidst a lack of catalysts and ahead of key U.S. employment data later this week. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were closed for the Independence Day holiday and the Asian markets figure to see a steady start.

The SCI finished barely higher on Tuesday as gains from the resource stocks were offset by weakness from the financials and properties.

For the day, the index perked 1.37 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 3,245.35 after trading between 3,233.99 and 3,246.96. The Shenzhen Composite Index added 8.69 points or 0.42 percent to end at 2,068.82.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China skidded 1.02 percent, while Bank of China tumbled 1.51 percent, China Construction Bank dropped 0.95 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 0.62 percent, Bank of Communications retreated 1.36 percent, China Life Insurance declined 1.24 percent, Jiangxi Copper rose 0.21 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) perked 0.18 percent, Yankuang Energy added 0.56 percent, PetroChina fell 0.38 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) lost 0.46 percent, Huaneng Power advanced 0.86 percent, China Shenhua Energy eased 0.16 percent, Gemdale plunged 2.21 percent, Poly Developments plummeted 3.05 percent, China Vanke sank 0.92 percent and China Fortune Land slumped 1.33 percent.

There is no lead from Wall Street, although the European markets saw mild consolidation on disappointing economic data, while Canadian shares ticked slightly higher on gains from energy companies.

Traders will look to the minutes of the latest U.S. Federal Reserve meeting later today, along with the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Recent data has pointed to a resilient U.S. economy, while slowing inflation has added to optimism about the outlook for interest rates. The Fed is still widely expected to raise interest rates by a quarter point later this month, but traders are hopeful that will be end of the rate-hiking cycle.