Renewed Consolidation Anticipated For China Shares

(RTTNews) - The China stock market rebounded on Wednesday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had improved almost 60 points or 2 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,160-point plateau although it's likely to head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on growth and inflation concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished slightly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares and the property stocks.

For the day, the index picked up 3.71 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 3,158.08 after trading between 3,136.90 and 3,162.15. The Shenzhen Composite Index perked 1.51 points or 0.08 percent to end at 1,971.59.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.44 percent, while China Construction Bank added 0.33 percent, China Merchants Bank improved 0.76 percent, Bank of Communications rose 0.18 percent, China Life Insurance eased 0.05 percent, Jiangxi Copper skidded 1.08 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) perked 0.30 percent, Yankuang Energy soared 2.66 percent, PetroChina jumped 1.64 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) shed 0.47 percent, Huaneng Power dipped 0.12 percent, China Shenhua Energy fell 0.27 percent, Gemdale surged 3.74 percent, Poly Developments rallied 2.03 percent, China Vanke spiked 2.09 percent and Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower and remained under water throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 198.78 points or 0.57 percent to finish at 34,443.19, while the NASDAQ sank 148.48 points or 1.06 percent to end at 13,872.47 and the S&P 500 lost 31.35 points or 0.70 percent to close at 4,465.48.

The continued weakness on Wall Street reflected ongoing concerns about the outlook for the global economy and inflation concerns.

Stocks saw further downside following a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing an unexpected acceleration in the pace of U.S. service sector growth in August - sending treasury yields higher.

In other U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing the U.S. trade deficit widened in the month of July.

Crude oil prices extended recent gains and moved higher on Wednesday, lifting the futures contract to a fresh nine-month closing high - fueled by the decision by Russia and Saudi Arabia to extend production cuts. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for October ended higher by $0.85 or 1 percent at $87.54 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will release August figures for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to sink 8.8 percent on year after slumping 12.4 percent in July. Exports are called lower by an annual 9.8 percent after falling 14.5 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $78.00 billion, down from $80.60 billion a month earlier.