Soft Start Anticipated For China Stock Market

The China stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the three-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 40 points or 1.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,120-point plateau and it’s expected to open under pressure again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with technology, semiconductor and oil stocks expected to weigh. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday as losses from the financial shares and property stocks were offset by support from the energy and resource companies.

For the day, the index lost 14.10 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 3,119.98 after trading between 3,115.35 and 3,145.75. The Shenzhen Composite Index sank 16.09 points or 0.76 percent to end at 2,038.00.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 0.24 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.33 percent, China Construction Bank shed 0.56 percent, China Merchants Bank rose 0.30 percent, Bank of Communications lost 0.43 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 2.28 percent, Jiangxi Copper perked 0.17 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) added 0.46 percent, Yankuang Energy climbed 1.17 percent, PetroChina improved 0.60 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) gained 0.47 percent, Huaneng Power strengthened 1.25 percent, China Shenhua Energy advanced 0.87 percent, Gemdale plunged 3.22 percent, Poly Developments tumbled 2.80 percent, China Vanke surrendered 3.00 percent and China Fortune Land plummeted 4.07 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday. The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 stayed in the red all day, while the Dow bounced back and forth across the unchanged line but also finished lower.

The Dow eased 39.09 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 33,553.83, while the NASDAQ tumbled 174.75 points or 1.54 percent to close at 11,183.66 and the S&P 500 sank 32.94 points or 0.83 percent to end at 3,958.79.

The weakness on Wall Street came as treasuries moved sharply higher, extending the upward move in the previous session and affecting technology stocks in particular.

In economic news, the Commerce Department reported a significant increase in U.S. retail sales in October. Also, the Federal Reserve noted an unexpected decline in U.S. industrial production last month. In addition, the National Association of Home Builders reported a continued decrease in U.S. homebuilder confidence in November.

Crude oil prices slipped Wednesday amid concerns about the outlook for demand and the resumption of Russian oil shipments to Hungary. Oil prices fell despite data showing a larger-than-expected drop in crude inventories in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended lower by $1.33 or 1.5 percent at $85.59 a barrel.