China Stock Market Poised To See Additional Support

The China stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, gathering almost 75 points or 2.1 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,530-point plateau and it’s called higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on rising oil prices and optimism on the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished slightly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.

For the day, the index rose 2.69 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 3,532.62 after trading between 3,524.04 and 3,544.09. The Shenzhen Composite Index added 3.21 points or 0.13 percent to end at 2,487.00.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China jumped 1.97 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.66 percent, China Construction Bank spiked 2.74 percent, China Merchants Bank climbed 1.37 percent, Bank of Communications added 0.69 percent, China Life Insurance rose 0.14 percent, Jiangxi Copper gained 0.49 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) strengthened 3.85 percent, Yanzhou Coal surged 5.88 percent, PetroChina perked 1.32 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) advanced 1.00 percent, China Shenhua Energy improved 1.24 percent, Gemdale soared 6.77 percent, Poly Developments skyrocketed 8.35 percent, China Vanke rallied 5.72 percent and Beijing Capital Development gathered 2.06 percent.

The lead from Wall Street has been mixed all week and Wednesday was no exception. All three of the major averages opened to the upside and the Dow and S&P stayed that way to hit fresh record closing highs; the NASDAQ quickly headed south and finished in the red.

The Dow jumped 220.30 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 35,484.97, while the NASDAQ dipped 22.95 points or 0.16 percent to close at 14,765.13 and the S&P rose 10.95 points or 0.25 percent to end at 4,447.70.

The mixed performance came after the Labor Department’s highly anticipated inflation reading was not bad as some had feared, slowing to 0.5 percent from 0.9 percent in June – suggesting that the central bank may not be in a hurry to scale back stimulus.

The recent resurgence in coronavirus cases may also weigh on the economy, leading the Fed to put off tapering plans and allowing stocks to continue to climb to record highs.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Wednesday, recovering well after an early setback, after the Biden administration said it would not ask U.S. oil producers to hike output. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up $0.96 or 1.4 percent at $69.25 a barrel.