BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 55 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 2,930-point plateau and it may take further damage on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, thanks to political uncertainty in the United States and ebbing optimism for a trade agreement between the U.S. and China. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.
The SCI finished modestly lower on Thursday as losses from the oil and insurance companies were mitigated by support from the financial shares and properties.
For the day, the index lost 26.34 points or 0.89 percent to finish at 2,929.09 after trading between 2,928.26 and 2,970.04. The Shenzhen Composite Index plunged 41.05 points or 2.50 percent to end at 1,597.72.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China climbed 1.09 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.56 percent, China Construction Bank advanced 1.00 percent, China Merchants Bank spiked 2.53 percent, China Life Insurance eased 0.14 percent, Ping An Insurance shed 0.48 percent, PetroChina dropped 0.81 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) dipped 0.20 percent, China Shenhua Energy added 0.52 percent, Poly Developments and China Vanke both rose 0.77 percent and Gemdale was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as stocks opened lower on Thursday before showing signs of life in afternoon trade - although the major averages still finished in the red.
The Dow shed 79.59 points or 0.30 percent to 26,891.12, while the NASDAQ lost 46.72 points or 0.58 percent to 8,030.66 and the S&P 500 fell 7.25 points or 0.24 percent to 2.977.62.
The weakness on Wall Street came amid renewed political uncertainty following the release of the whistleblower complaint that sparked the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
In economic news, the Commerce Department said Q2 GDP growth was unrevised from the previous estimate, up 2.0 percent - slowing from 3.1 percent in Q1. Also, the National Association of Realtors noted a bigger than expected rebound in pending home sales in August.
Crude oil futures ended just marginally down on Thursday, as traders continued to weigh global crude demand and supply positions. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for November eased $0.08 or 0.1 percent at $56.41 a barrel.
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