Continued Consolidation May Plague China Shares

The China stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last seven trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had spiked more than 110 points or 3.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite now sits just beneath the 3,380-point plateau and it may take further damage on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the resource and property stocks, while the financials offered mild support.

For the day, the index tumbled 59.44 points or 1.73 percent to finish at 3,379.84 after trading between 3,376.15 and 3,441.77. The Shenzhen Composite Index plunged 59.54 points or 2.81 percent to end at 2,060.23.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China picked up 0.50 percent, while Bank of China rose 0.41 percent, China Construction Bank improved 0.64 percent, China Merchants Bank advanced 0.63 percent, Agricultural Bank of China collected 0.64 percent, China Life Insurance strengthened 1.24 percent, Jiangxi Copper tumbled 2.61 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) declined 1.85 percent, Yankuang Energy slumped 1.47 percent, PetroChina shed 0.50 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.48 percent, Huaneng Power retreated 1.37 percent, China Shenhua Energy gained 0.61 percent, Gemdale plunged 4.66 percent, Poly Developments tanked 2.35 percent and China Vanke stumbled 1.32 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened flat on Thursday but quickly fell into the red and stayed that way, ending near session lows.

The Dow dropped 207.33 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 43,750.86, while the NASDAQ slumped 123.07 points or 0.64 percent to close at 19,107.65 and the S&P 500 sank 36.21 points or 0.60 percent to end at 5,949.17.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street late in the session came after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank does not “need to be in a hurry to lower rates” due to the strength of the economy.

Powell’s remarks came as the latest batch of U.S. economy data generated some uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates after the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits unexpectedly edged lower last week.

While the Fed is still widely expected to lower interest rates by a quarter point next month, there is some concern that sticky inflation will lead the central bank to slow the pace of its rate cuts in early 2025.

Oil futures settled higher on Thursday, supported by data showing a drop in gasoline stockpiles. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed up $0.27 or about 0.4 percent at $68.70 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will release October data for fixed asset investment, industrial production, retail sales and unemployment later this morning. FAI is expected to rise 3.5 percent on year, up from 3.4 percent in September. Industrial production is tipped to add an annual 5.5 percent, up from 5.4 percent in the previous month. Sales are seen higher by 3.8 percent on year, up from 3.2 percent a month earlier. The jobless rate is seen steady at 5.1 percent.

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