China Bourse May Hand Back Wednesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the three-day slide in which it had slipped just 10 points or 0.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite now sits just beneath the 3,310-point plateau although if figures to head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild consolidation on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were slightly soft and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares, resource stocks and properties.

For the day, the index jumped 50.02 points or 1.53 percent to finish at 3,309.78 after trading between 3,227.36 and 3,309.88. The Shenzhen Composite Index spiked 40.57 points or 2.07 percent to end at 1,996.71.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.65 percent, while Bank of China and China Construction Bank both advanced 1.00 percent, China Merchants Bank gained 0.58 percent, Agricultural Bank of China added 0.42 percent, China Life Insurance rallied 2.47 percent, Jiangxi Copper added 0.88 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) advanced 0.92 percent, Yankuang Energy increased 1.09 percent, PetroChina perked 0.12 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rose 0.31 percent, Huaneng Power improved 1.16 percent, China Shenhua Energy accelerated 2.01 percent, Gemdale soared 3.93 percent, Poly Developments strengthened 1.52 percent and China Vanke climbed 1.08 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday but all trended lower as the day progressed and ended in the red.

The Dow dropped 138.25 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 44,722.06, while the NASDAQ slumped 115.10 points or 0.60 percent to close at 19,060.48 and the S&P 500 sank 22.89 points or 0.38 percent to end at 5,998.74.

The pullback by the NASDAQ was fueled by substantial weakness among computer hardware stocks, led lower by PC makers Dell Technologies (DELL) and HP Inc. (HPQ) after providing disappointing earnings guidance.

Weakness among semiconductor and networking stocks also weighed on the NASDAQ, while biotechnology stocks showed a strong move to the upside.

The weakness in the broader markets came after the Commerce Department released closely watched inflation data that matched expectations. While the faster annual price growth was in line with estimates, the acceleration raised concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

Crude oil moved slightly lower on Wednesday as traders weighed news of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah against data showing a bigger than expected drop by U.S. crude oil inventories. West Texas Intermediate for January delivery eased $0.05 or 0.1 percent to $68.72 a barrel.