China Shares May Take Further Damage On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 40 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,245-point plateau and it may extend its losing streak on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower on concerns over the outlook for interest rates and the health of the banking sector. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished slightly lower on Tuesday as losses from the properties were mitigated by support from the financial sector.

For the day, the index dipped 6.02 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 3,245.38 after trading between 3,241.74 and 3,264.10.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.67 percent, while Bank of China added 0.60 percent, China Construction Bank perked 0.17 percent, China Merchants Bank gained 0.56 percent, Bank of Communications rose 0.39 percent, China Life Insurance tumbled 1.74 percent, Jiangxi Copper climbed 1.13 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) skidded 1.10 percent, Yankuang Energy shed 0.41 percent, PetroChina strengthened 1.61 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) soared 3.93 percent, Huaneng Power dropped 1.05 percent, China Shenhua Energy slumped 1.08 percent, Gemdale declined 1.18 percent, Poly Developments stumbled 1.27 percent and China Vanke sank 0.78 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday, but they all headed south throughout the session and ended in the red.

The Dow shed 37.83 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 32,394.25, while the NASDAQ sank 52.76 points or 0.45 percent to end at 11,716.08 and the S&P 500 fell 6.26 points or 0.16 percent to close at 3,971.27.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street reflected ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates amid a continued increase in treasury yields as the 10-year yield climbed further off last Friday's six-month closing low.

In economic news, the Conference Board unexpectedly reported a slight improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in March.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Tuesday on easing concerns about global banking sector woes, lifting the most active oil futures contract to a two-week closing high. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.39 or 0.5 percent at $73.20 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will see February figures for industrial profits later today; in January, profits were up 0.8 percent on year.