China Shares Tipped To Be Rangebound On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Thursday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 75 points or 2.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,370-point plateau and it's expected to see little movement on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement, with investors expected to wait and see what happens in terms of corporate earnings. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little hanged and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the property stocks and mixed performances from the financials and resource companies.

For the day, the index lost 23.20 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 3,370.13 after trading between 3,364.64 and 3,394.96. The Shenzhen Composite Index declined 12.28 points or 0.57 percent to end at 2,126.51.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 0.21 percent, while Bank of China rose 0.28 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 0.50 percent, Bank of Communications collected 0.36 percent, China Life Insurance sank 0.73 percent, Jiangxi Copper perked 0.23 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) advanced 0.92 percent, Yankuang Energy eased 0.11 percent, PetroChina retreated 1.37 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) dropped 0.79 percent, Huaneng Power rallied 2.03 percent, China Shenhua Energy fell 0.27 percent, Gemdale plummeted 4.27 percent, Poly Developments tumbled 2.31 percent, China Vanke tanked 2.64 percent, China Fortune Land plunged 3.32 percent and China Construction Bank was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains ambiguous as the major averages opened sharply lower on Wednesday but chipped away throughout the session to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 79.62 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 33,897.01, while the NASDAQ rose 3.82 points or 0.03 percent to close at 12,157.23 and the S&P 500 eased 0.35 points or 0.01 percent to end at 4,154.52.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders reacted to mixed earnings news as Netflix (NFLX) disappointed while Morgan Stanley (MS) and Travelers (TRV) beat the street.

Negative sentiment was generated by a jump in treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note reaching its highest level in nearly a month. The increase reflected concerns about global inflation after the U.K. said consumer prices increased more than expected in March.

On the U.S. economic front, the Federal Reserve released its Beige Book report, noting U.S. economic activity was little changed in recent weeks, while the rate of price increases appeared to be slowing.

Crude oil prices slid on Wednesday on concerns that any further policy tightening by the Fed could hurt growth and significantly curb energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended lower by $1.66 or 2 percent at $79.24 a barrel.