Steady Start Eyed For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has tracked lower in three straight sessions, slumping almost 35 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 2,825-point plateau and it may see mild support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key inflation data later in the day. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Thursday as losses from the financials and resource stocks were mitigated by support from the property sector.

For the day, the index sank 14.32 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 2,823.11 after trading between 2,815.38 and 2,831.43. The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 16.83 points or 1.13 percent to end at 1,510.42.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China plunged 4.16 percent, while Bank of China surrendered 4.10 percent, China Construction Bank tanked 4.24 percent, China Merchants Bank tumbled 2.23 percent, Agricultural Bank of China plummeted 4.66 percent, China Life Insurance fell 0.31 percent, Jiangxi Copper rallied 1.40 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) slipped 0.29 percent, Yankuang Energy shed 0.57 percent, PetroChina declined 3.05 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) stumbled 3.24 percent, Huaneng Power retreated 1.42 percent, China Shenhua Energy skidded 1.59 percent, Gemdale jumped 1.59 percent, China Vanke added 0.32 percent and Poly Developments was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and spent much of the day solidly in the green - before a late slump saw them end mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 243.63 points or 0.59 percent to finish at a record 41,335.05, while the NASDAQ sank 39.60 points or 0.23 percent to close at 17,516.43 and the S&P 500 eased 0.22 points or 0.00 percent to end at 5,591.96.

The early strength on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to the latest U.S. economic data, including a Commerce Department report showing the U.S. economy unexpectedly grew more than previously estimated in the second quarter.

A separate report from the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged slightly lower last week.

Buying interest waned in the latter part of the session, however, as traders looked ahead to the release of closely watched readings on consumer price inflation later today.

The downturn by the tech-heavy NASDAQ also came as shares of Nvidia (NVDA) slumped even though the company reported Q2 results that exceeded expectations and forecast fiscal third quarter revenues above estimates.

Oil prices settled sharply higher on Thursday on supply concerns amid reports Libya has shut off production and halted exports at several ports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October climbed $1.39 or 1.87 percent at $75.91 a barrel.