China Shares May Take Further Damage On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in three consecutive trading days, stumbling more than 100 points or 3 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,360-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the red again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of the FOMC's interest rate decision later today. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion, although bargain hunting may take hold later in the day.

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

For the day, the index sank 24.85 points or 0.73 percent to finish at 3,361.49 after trading between 3,357.77 and 3,396.21. The Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 35.31 points or 1.72 percent to end at 2,013.78.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slumped 0.31 percent, while Bank of China improved 0.38 percent, China Construction Bank gained 0.47 percent, China Merchants Bank rose 0.29 percent, Agricultural Bank of China slid 0.20 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.48 percent, Jiangxi Copper perked 0.14 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) sank 0.81 percent, Yankuang Energy shed 0.55 percent, PetroChina added 0.36 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) eased 0.16 percent, Huaneng Power stumbled 1.26 percent, China Shenhua Energy declined 1.50 percent, Gemdale retreated 1.62 percent, Poly Developments dropped 0.95 percent and China Vanke skidded 1.09 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow tumbled 267.58 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 43,449.90, while the NASDAQ sank 64.83 points or 0.32 percent to close at 20,109.06 and the S&P 500 lost 23.47 points or 0.39 percent to end at 6,050.61.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected a pullback by technology stocks, which had led the way higher in the previous session - particularly among the networking and semiconductor stocks. Telecom, financial, housing and steel stocks also moved to the downside.

Meanwhile, traders continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement later today. While the Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another quarter-point, traders will pay close attention to the Fed's statement and latest economic projections, including their forecasts for rates.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday amid concerns about the outlook for global demand, and possible excess supply in the market next year. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for January ended down $0.63 or 0.9 percent at $70.08 a barrel.