China Stock Market May Be Stuck In Neutral On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting almost 25 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,230-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat and directionless on conflicting leads over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index perked 0.52 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 3,230.17 after trading between 3,175.72 and 3,246.29. The Shenzhen Composite Index sank 5,63 points or 0.30 percent to end at 1,873.39.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China climbed 1.05 percent, while Bank of China improved 1.10 percent, China Construction Bank spiked 2.20 percent, China Merchants Bank advanced 0.98 percent, Agricultural Bank of China collected 0.78 percent, China Life Insurance rose 0.31 percent, Jiangxi Copper tumbled 1.91 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) retreated 1.81 percent, Yankuang Energy skidded 1.17 percent, PetroChina rallied 2.38 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.77 percent, China Shenhua Energy shed 0.54 percent, Gemdale lost 0.68 percent, Poly Developments sank 0.81 percent, China Vanke slumped 1.28 percent and Huaneng Power was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests little movement as the major averages opened slightly lower on Wednesday, bounced back and forth across the line all day before ending mixed and largely unchanged.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came amid uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates following the release of mixed U.S. jobs data.

While payroll processor ADP released a report showing private sector job growth slowed more than expected in December, the Labor Department said weekly jobless claims unexpectedly fell to their lowest level in almost 11 months.

While the Federal Reserve released the minutes of its latest monetary policy meeting later in the day, they did not provide much insight into the outlook for interest rates other than to suggest officials plan to take a "careful approach" to future decisions.

Oil futures closed lower on Wednesday as a sharp increase in gasoline stockpiles and a stronger dollar weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended lower by $0.93 or 1.25 percent at $73.32 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will release December figures for consumer prices later this morning. In November, overall consumer prices were down 0.6 percent on month and up 0.2 percent on year, while producer prices sank an annual 2.5 percent.