Rebound Predicted For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market headed south again on Wednesday, one day after ending the two-day slide in which it had dipped almost 15 points or 0.5 percent. The SCI now sits just above the 3,370-point plateau although it's expected to bounce higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on bargain hunting and an improved outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the former lead.

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

For the day, the index fell 7.90 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 3,371.92 after trading between 3,370.22 and 3,392.41. The Shenzhen Composite Index perked 2.66 points or 0.13 percent to end at 2,090.38.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dropped 0.88 percent, while Bank of China slumped 1.11 percent, China Construction Bank lost 0.47 percent, China Merchants Bank was up 0.07 percent, Agricultural Bank of China and China Life Insurance both sank 0.79 percent, Jiangxi Copper added 0.60 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) increased 0.26 percent, Yankuang Energy and Poly Developments both skidded 1.04 percent, PetroChina fell 0.39 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rose 0.36 percent, Huaneng Power improved 0.75 percent, China Shenhua Energy retreated 1.37 percent, Gemdale shed 0.64 percent and China Vanke perked 0.13 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday before dipping and then rebounding to finally end mixed.

The Dow sank 82.55 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 41,350.93, while the NASDAQ rallied 212.35 points or 1.22 percent to close at 17,648.45 and the S&P 500 gained 27.23 points or 0.49 percent to end at 5,599.30.

The early strength on Wall Street followed the release of the closely watched Labor Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased slightly less than expected in February.

The tamer-than-expected inflation data led to some optimism about the Federal Reserve resuming interest rate cuts in the near future.

Buying interest was somewhat subdued, however, as concerns about the impact of new trade policies continue to weigh on the markets.

Oil prices moved higher on Wednesday after data showed a smaller than expected increase in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $1.43 or 2.16 percent at $67.68 a barrel.