Soft Start Anticipated For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, sinking almost 45 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,240-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the red again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky ahead of key inflation data from the United States. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly lower again on Wednesday following losses from the energy and resource stocks, gains from the properties and a mixed picture from the financials.

For the day, the index lost 16.13 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 3,244.49 after trading between 3,240.29 and 3,257.08. The Shenzhen Composite Index sank 12.25 points or 0.60 percent to end at 2,038.77.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.64 percent, while Bank of China rose 0.26 percent, China Construction Bank perked 0.17 percent, China Merchants Bank fell 0.38 percent, Bank of Communications was up 0.18 percent, China Life Insurance dipped 0.13 percent, Jiangxi Copper skidded 1.10 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) retreated 1.25 percent, Yankuang Energy declined 1.32 percent, PetroChina increased 0.13 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) slid 0.33 percent, Huaneng Power tumbled 1.66 percent, China Shenhua Energy shed 0.32 percent, Gemdale climbed 1.38 percent, Poly Developments jumped 1.74 percent and China Vanke advanced 0.82 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened flat on Wednesday before heading south shortly thereafter; they made back some ground as the day progressed but still finished solidly in the red.

The Dow stumbled 191.13 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 35,123.36, while the NASDAQ dropped 162.31 points or 1.17 percent to close at 13.722.02 and the S&P 500 sank 31.67 points or 0.70 percent to end at 4,467.71.

The lower close on Wall Street came as traders remained cautious ahead of the release of a key report on consumer price inflation later today.

Traders will be looking for the report to reinforce expectations that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged next month; CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 86.5 percent chance the Fed will keep rates steady in September.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday, extending recent gains as output cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia continued to raise concerns about supply. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery jumped $1.48 pr 1.8 percent to $84.40 a barrel.