China Stock Market Expected To Open In The Green

The China stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, surging almost 130 points or 4.3 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 2,830-point plateau and it may extend its winning streak on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher and is likely to be driven by earnings news. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the resource stocks, weakness from the financials and a mixed picture from the property sector.

For the day, the index rallied 40.21 points or 1.44 percent to finish at the daily high of 2,829.70 after moving as low as 2,770.53. The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 22.12 points or 1.47 percent to end at 1,528.91.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China tumbled 1.69 percent, while Bank of China tanked 2.47 percent, China Construction Bank surrendered 2.41 percent, China Merchants Bank dipped 0.06 percent, Bank of Communications retreated 1.78 percent, China Life Insurance perked 0.13 percent, Jiangxi Copper climbed 1.05 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) strengthened 1.42 percent, Yankuang Energy advanced 0.87 percent, PetroChina spiked 2.34 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) improved 0.84 percent, Huaneng Power fell 0.35 percent, China Shenhua Energy rallied 2.25 percent, Gemdale slumped 2.08 percent, Poly Developments added 0.42 percent and China Vanke was up 0.11 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and remained in the green throughout the day as the Dow and S&P both hit record closing highs.

The Dow climbed 156.00 points or 0.40 percent to finish at 38,677.36, while the NASDAQ rallied 147.65 points or 0.95 percent to end at 15,756.64 and the S&P 500 gained 40.83 points or 0.82 percent to close at 4,995.06.

The strength on Wall Street reflected recent upbeat economic data, which is still seen as a positive even though it reduces the chance of an interest rate cut next month.

Also supporting the markets were solid earnings news from the likes of solar inverter maker Enphase Energy (ENPH) and auto giant Ford (F).

In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing the U.S. trade deficit widened in December.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Wednesday after official data showed a notable drop in gasoline stockpiles last week in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $0.55 at $73.86 a barrel, gaining for a third straight session.

Closer to home, China will release January data for consumer and producer prices later today. Consumer prices are expected to add 0.4 percent on month and fall 0.5 percent on year after rising 0.1 percent on month and slipping 0.3 percent on year in December. Producer prices are tipped to sink 2.6 percent on year after dropping 2.7 percent in the previous month.

Market Analysis