BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market headed south again on Wednesday, one session after it had ended the two-day losing streak in which it had surrendered more than 85 points or 3 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 2,890-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on global trade concerns and tumbling crude oil prices. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the energy producers and mixed performances from the financial shares and property stocks.
For the day, the index shed 14.26 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 2,891.70 after trading between 2,879.64 and 2,912.40. The Shenzhen Composite Index fell 7.83 points or 0.51 percent to end at 1,540.85.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China added 0.18 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.26 percent, China Construction Bank shed 0.29 percent, China Merchants Bank lost 0.30 percent, China Life Insurance skidded 1.20 percent, Ping An Insurance sank 0.72 percent, PetroChina and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) both fell 0.55 percent, China Shenhua Energy slid 0.27 percent, Gemdale was down 0.34 percent, Poly Developments perked 0.31 percent, China Vanke retreated 0.58 percent and CITIC Securities declined 0.44 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks gave ground on Wednesday, although the selling pressure was subdued and the downside limited.
The Dow shed 100.72 points or 0.39 percent to end at 25,776.61, while the NASDAQ fell 34.88 points or 0.45 percent to 7,750.84 and the S&P 500 sank 8.09 points or 0.28 percent to 2,856.27.
The weakness on Wall Street came as traders continued to worry the trade dispute between the U.S. and China is escalating into a full-fledged trade war. A report from the South China Morning Post said China is re-examining the entire bilateral economic relationship between the two countries.
Stocks remained mostly lower following the release of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting, which suggested the central bank is in no rush to alter the path of interest rates.
Crude oil prices plunged sharply Wednesday after data from the Energy Information Administration showed a sharp jump in U.S. crude stockpiles last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June suffered their biggest single session fall in three weeks, settling with a loss of $1.71 or 2.7 percent at $61.42 a barrel.
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