China Stock Market Due For Profit Taking On Thursday

The China stock market has climbed higher in six straight sessions, accelerating almost 210 points or 6.7 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,270-point plateau although it’s likely to run out of steam on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with technology stocks and financials in particular likely targeted for profit taking. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the properties, weakness from the resource stocks and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index added 11.17 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 3,271.03 after trading between 3,251.98 and 3,279.77. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 11.52 points or 0.54 percent to end at 2,163.20.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.44 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.32 percent, China Construction Bank rose 0.17 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 0.51 percent, Bank of Communications dipped 0.20 percent, China Life Insurance lost 0.50 percent, Jiangxi Copper declined 0.51 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tanked 2.24 percent, Yankuang Energy skidded 1.03 percent, PetroChina dropped 0.56 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) sank 0.48 percent, Huaneng Power plunged 4.49 percent, China Shenhua Energy retreated 1.23 percent, Gemdale was down 0.49 percent, Poly Developments rose 0.06 percent, China Vanke jumped 1.88 percent, China Fortune Land advanced 0.85 percent and Beijing Capital strengthened 1.57 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday and remained that way largely throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 448.96 points or 1.29 percent to finish at 34,358.50, while the NASDAQ dropped 186.21 points or 1.32 percent to close at 13,922.60 and the S&P 500 sank 55.37 points or 1.23 percent to end at 4,456.24.

Lingering concerns about the ongoing war in Ukraine have contributed to the pullback on Wall Street along with a spike by the price of crude oil. U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to impose further sanctions on Russia during his trip to Europe this week.

Traders also were cashing in on recent strength in the markets, as stocks moved notably higher in five out of the six previous sessions, although they may be wary of continuing to buy stocks amid worries about the Russia-Ukraine crisis, inflation and higher interest rates.

Crude oil futures settled at over two-week highs on Wednesday, lifted by data showing a drop in U.S. crude inventories and worries about supply disruptions due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $5.66 or 5.2 percent at $114.93 a barrel.