China Shares May Extend Thursday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 50 points or 1.8 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,115-point plateau and it may take further damage on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on persistent concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.

For the day, the index stumbled 42.15 points or 1.33 percent to finish at 3,116.39 after trading between 3,110.28 and 3,150.63.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.36 percent, while Bank of China dipped 0.22 percent, China Construction Bank sank 0.70 percent, China Merchants Bank retreated 1.55 percent, Bank of Communications fell 0.28 percent, China Life Insurance slid 0.27 percent, Jiangxi Copper plummeted 4.78 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plunged 3.16 percent, Yankuang Energy eased 0.24 percent, PetroChina declined 1.39 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) lost 0.62 percent, Huaneng Power tumbled 2.02 percent, China Shenhua Energy gained 0.62 percent, Gemdale dropped 0.93 percent, Poly Developments tanked 3.28 percent and China Vanke rallied 1.70 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed on Thursday but headed south as the day progressed to end firmly in the red.

The Dow plunged 605.78 points or 1.53 percent to finish at 39,065.26, while the NASDAQ sank 65.51 points or 0.39 percent to close at 16,736.03 and the S&P 500 lost 39.17 points or 0.74 percent to end at 5,267.84.

Initial strength on Wall Street came as tech stocks rallied following upbeat quarterly results from chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA), which reported better than expected fiscal first quarter results and provided upbeat guidance.

Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as concerns about the outlook for interest rates continue to hang over the broader markets following Wednesday's slightly hawkish Fed minutes.

Potentially adding to the rate concerns, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week.

Oil futures settled lower on Thursday for a fourth straight session amid concerns about the outlook for demand, and on data showing an unexpected jump in crude inventories in the U.S. last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July sank $0.70 or 0.9 percent at $76.87 a barrel.