Higher Open Anticipated For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 40 points or 1.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,040-point plateau and it's likely to open in the green again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is generally upbeat following the FOMC's rate decision. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Wednesday as gains from the resource and energy companies were offset by weakness from the financials and properties.

For the day, the index added 9.42 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 3,037.47 after trading between 3,021.31 and 3,042.04. The Shenzhen Composite Index gained 9.76 points or 0.58 percent to end at 1,693.91.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China sank 0.74 percent, while Bank of China skidded 1.12 percent, China Construction Bank collected 0.28 percent, China Merchants Bank dropped 0.81 percent, Bank of Communications dipped 0.28 percent, China Life Insurance shed 0.68 percent, Jiangxi Copper climbed 1.06 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) rallied 2.21 percent, Yankuang Energy soared 3.63 percent, PetroChina jumped 1.83 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.65 percent, Huaneng Power strengthened 1.30 percent, China Shenhua Energy accelerated 2.79 percent, Gemdale fell 0.25 percent, Poly Developments retreated 1.17 percent and China Vanke slumped 1.50 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday, although the Dow couldn't hold its gains and slipped into the red.

The Dow shed 35.21 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 38,712.21, while the NASDAQ rallied 264.89 points or 1.53 percent to close at 17,608.44 and the S&P 500 gained 45.71 points or 0.85 percent to end at 5,421.03.

The early rally on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing U.S. consumer prices were unexpectedly flat in May, which led to renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

But later in the day, the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement revealed that officials now expect only one interest rate cut this year.

The Fed acknowledged modest further progress toward its inflation objective in recent months but said officials still need greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably towards the target before they will consider lowering rates.

Oil prices climbed higher Wednesday on hopes of increased demand and tighter supply conditions later in the year, as well as a weak dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July rose $0.60 at $78.50 a barrel.