China Stock Market May Test Resistance At 3,100 Points

The China stock market rebounded on Wednesday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 50 points or 1.6 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,080-point plateau and it’s likely to see further upside on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly positive on increased optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financials and oil companies, while the property and energy sectors were mixed.

For the day, the index improved 16.93 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 3,079.69 after trading between 3,056.65 and 3,081.75. he Shenzhen Composite Index gained 10.90 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 1,806.61.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China advanced 0.97 percent, while Bank of China rallied 1.40 percent, China Construction Bank rose 0.30 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 1.23 percent, Bank of Communications improved 1.31 percent, China Life Insurance added 0.62 percent, Jiangxi Copper shed 0.52 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) fell 0.30 percent, Yankuang Energy gained 0.80 percent, PetroChina soared 2.70 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) strengthened 1.46 percent, Huaneng Power sank 0.76 percent, China Shenhua Energy gathered 0.43 percent, Gemdale increased 0.50 percent, Poly Developments dipped 0.11 percent and China Vanke perked 0.32 percent.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages opened flat on Wednesday and spent most of the day that way before a late surge boosted them firmly into the green and to record closing highs.

The Dow surged 401.37 points or 1.03 percent to finish at 39,512.13, while the NASDAQ rallied 202.62 points or 1.25 percent to end at 16,369.41 and the S&P 500 gained 46.11 points or 0.89 percent to close at 5,224.62.

The rally on Wall Street came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged but also maintained its forecast for three rate cuts this year – which had been in some doubt.

The Fed said it again maintained the target range for the federal funds rate at 5.25 to 5.50 percent, but the latest projections suggest Fed officials expect rates to be lowered to a range of 4.50 to 4.75 percent by the end of 2024.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday as traders chose to take some profits following recent gains, while a firm dollar also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April slumped $1.79 or 2.1 percent at $81.68 a barrel.