BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - Ahead of Wednesday's Labor Day holiday, the China stock market had snapped the three-day losing streak ion which it had plummeted almost 140 points or 4.5 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,080-point plateau although it's looking at a soft start again on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on the outlook for interest rates and on sliding crude oil prices. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The SCI finished modestly higher on Tuesday as gains from the financials and oil companies were capped by weakness from the insurance stocks and a mixed bag from the property sector.
For the day, the index advanced 15.84 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 3,078.34 after trading between 3,052.62 and 3,088.41. The Shenzhen Composite Index climbed 10.97 points or 0.67 percent to end at 1,636.59.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China added 0.17 percent, while China Minsheng Bank was up 0.31 percent, China Construction Bank collected 0.40 percent, China Merchants Bank tumbled 2.49 percent, China Life Insurance skidded 2.23 percent, Ping An Insurance fell 0.38 percent, PetroChina perked 0.14 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rose 0.35 percent, China Shenhua Energy advanced 0.87 percent, Gemdale added 0.66 percent, Poly Development gained 0.22 percent, China Vanke retreated 1.60 percent and Bank of China was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks shook off early support on Wednesday and finished firmly in the red.
The Dow shed 162.77 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 26,430.14, while the NASDAQ lost 45.75 points or 0.57 percent to 8,049.64 and the S&P 500 fell 22.10 points or 0.75 percent to 2,923.73.
The late-day pullback came after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell dashed traders' hopes for a near-term interest rate cut. The comments from Powell came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged at 2.25 to 2.50 percent for the third straight meeting.
Meanwhile, traders were also reacting to mixed economic data, as separate reports showed a jump in private sector employment and a significant slowdown in growth in the manufacturing sector.
Crude oil prices slid Wednesday after data showed a larger than expected increase in U.S. crude stockpiles last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June settled at $63.62 a barrel, losing $0.15 or 0.24 percent for the session.
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