China Stock Market May Hand Back Wednesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Wednesday ended the three-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 40 points or 1.5 percent. The Shanghai Composite now sits just above the 2,715-point plateau although it may head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative after the Federal Reserve announced its well-telegraphed rate cut. The European and U.S. markets saw mild losses and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and resource and energy companies.

For the day, the index added 13.19 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 2,717.28 after trading between 2,689.70 and 2,724.11. The Shenzhen Composite Index fell 2.53 points or 0.17 percent to end at 1,473.73.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rallied 2.16 percent, while Bank of China strengthened 1.53 percent, China Construction Bank jumped 1.54 percent, China Merchants Bank spiked 1.67 percent, Agricultural Bank of China collected 1.35 percent, China Life Insurance soared 3.05 percent, Jiangxi Copper climbed 1.88 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) skyrocketed 4.11 percent, Yankuang Energy accelerated 3.12 percent, PetroChina improved 2.03 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) surged 3.23 percent, Huaneng Power rose 0.31 percent, China Shenhua Energy advanced 1.03 percent, Gemdale added 6.25 percent, Poly Developments gained 2.01 percent and China Vanke was up 2.69 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages hugged the line until the Fed's monetary policy announcement; after an initial spike, they turned lower and ended in the red.

The Dow sank 103.08 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 41,503.10, while the NASDAQ shed 54.76 points or 0.31 percent to close at 17,573.30 and the S&P 500 fell 16.32 points or 0.29 percent to end at 5,618.26.

The late-day volatility on Wall Street came after the Fed decided to lower interest rates for the first time in over four years, aggressively slashing rates by half a percentage point.

The economic projections provided by Fed officials at the meeting suggested the central bank will cut rates by another 50 basis points by the end of the year.

Fed officials also expect to continue lowering rates next year, with the projections indicating rates will be lower by another full percentage point by the end of 2025.

Thanks to profit taking, crude oil futures settled lower on Wednesday, despite a drop in U.S. crude inventories and the rate cut. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for October ended down $0.28 or 0.39 percent at $70.91 a barrel.