BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has finished lower in back-to-back trading days, surrendering almost 30 points or 1 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 2,980-point plateau and it may take further damage on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly soft on inconsistent data and profit taking. The European and U.S. markets were slightly lower and the Asian bourses are predicted to open in similar fashion.
The SCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following mixed performances from the financial shares and oil companies, while the properties offered support.
For the day, the index sank 12.34 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 2,978.71 after trading between 2,975.92 and 3,010.42. The Shenzhen Composite Index slid 6.30 points or 0.38 percent to end at 1,635.65.
Among the actives, Bank of China collected 0.27 percent, while China Construction Bank skidded 1.22 percent, China Merchants Bank added 0.46 percent, China Minsheng Bank fell 0.48 percent, China Life Insurance gained 0.72 percent, Ping An Insurance perked 0.42 percent, PetroChina shed 0.33 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rose 0.20 percent, China Shenhua Energy lost 0.43 percent, Gemdale climbed 1.08 percent, Poly Developments jumped 1.28 percent, China Vanke advanced 1.12 percent, CITIC Securities dropped 0.57 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as stocks showed a lack of direction on Wednesday, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before ending in the red.
The Dow shed 22.82 points or 0.08 percent to end at 27,001.98, the NASDAQ lost 24.52 points or 0.30 percent to 8,124.18 and the S&P 500 fell 5.99 points or 0.20 percent to 2,989.69.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders digested mixed U.S. economic data as well as the latest batch of earnings news.
The Commerce Department noted an unexpected decrease in U.S. retail sales in September, which raised some concerns about the economic outlook but also added to optimism about further interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
Also, the National Association of Home Builders said homebuilder confidence climbed to its highest level in well over a year in October, while the Federal Reserve released its Beige Book, which said the U.S. economy expanded at only a slight to modest pace over the past month.
Despite persisting concerns about the outlook for energy demand, crude oil prices edged higher on Wednesday amid expectations OPEC will continue to cut output. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended up $0.55 or 1 percent at $53.36 a barrel.
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