Soft Start Anticipated For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market inched higher again on Wednesday, one session after ending the three-day winning streak in which it had gained more than 50 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just shy of the 3,225-point plateau and it's expected to see renewed selling pressure on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates and recession fears. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished barely higher on Wednesday as gains from the resource stocks were offset by weakness from the properties and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index picked up 0.16 points or 0.00 percent to finish at 3,224.41 after trading between 3,220.37 and 3,234.82.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.23 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.31 percent, China Construction Bank was up 0.18 percent, China Merchants Bank sank 0.74 percent, Bank of Communications perked 0.21 percent, China Life Insurance rose 0.28 percent, Jiangxi Copper surged 3.70 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) soared 2.45 percent, Yankuang Energy jumped 1.72 percent, PetroChina increased 0.20 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.45 percent, Huaneng Power advanced 1.00 percent, China Shenhua Energy lost 0.52 percent, Gemdale dropped 0.91 percent, Poly Developments tumbled 1.93 percent, China Vanke retreated 1.39 percent and Beijing Capital Development skidded 1.07 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages were unable to hold early support on Wednesday, quickly heading south and finishing near daily lows.

The Dow plummeted 613,89 points or 1.81 percent to finish at 33,296.96, while the NASDAQ tumbled 138.10 points or 1.24 percent to close at 10,957.01 and the S&P 500 sank 62.11 points or 1.56 percent to end at 3,928.86.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came after St. Louis Fed President James Bullard commented that the central bank needs to quickly hike interest rates above 5 percent, shelving much of the recent optimism over interest rates.

Disappointing economic data also weighed as the Commerce Department reported a steep drop in U.S. retail sales in December. A separate report from the Federal Reserve showed industrial production in the U.S. fell by much more than expected in December.

As a result of the data, treasuries showed a substantial move to the upside, further stoking fears for the outlook of interest rates.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Wednesday amid concerns about a possible U.S. recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended lower by $0.70 or 0.9 percent at $79.48 a barrel.