BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, surrendering more than 50 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 2,980-point plateau although it may rebound on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up slightly and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.
The SCI finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares and oil and insurance companies.
For the day, the index tumbled 52.63 points or 1.74 percent to finish at 2,978.12 after trading between 2,970.57 and 3,023.71. The Shenzhen Composite Index sank 33.74 points or 2.00 percent to end at 1,651.35.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 1.08 percent, while Bank of China dropped 1.09 percent, China Construction Bank skidded 1.12 percent, China Merchants Bank fell 0.60 percent, China Life Insurance sank 2.05 percent, Ping An Insurance tumbled 2.00 percent, PetroChina retreated 1.23 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) declined 1.34 percent, Gemdale slid 0.58 percent, Poly Developments rose 0.07 percent, China Vanke lost 1.43 percent, CITIC Securities plummeted 3.09 percent and China Shenhua Energy was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as stocks showed a lack of direction Tuesday ahead of the Fed's announcement. The major averages spent most of the session bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before endling slightly higher.
The Dow added 33.98 points or 0.13 percent to 27,110.80, while the NASDAQ gained 32.47 points or 0.40 percent to 8,186.02 and the S&P rose 7.74 points or 0.26 percent to 3,005.70.
The choppy trading came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the monetary policy decision. The Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by another 25 basis points, with traders likely to pay closer attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the long-term outlook for rates.
Uncertainty about the U.S. response to the recent attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities also kept some traders on the sidelines. President Donald Trump has indicated the U.S. is prepared to respond militarily but has stopped short of definitively blaming Iran for the attacks.
In economic news, the Fed said industrial output rebounded much more than anticipated in August, while the National Association of Home Builders noted an unexpected improvement in U.S. homebuilder confidence in September.
Crude oil prices retreated on Tuesday after having skyrocketed in the previous session following the drone attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October plunged $3.56 or 5.7 percent to $59.34 a barrel.
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