BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has finished higher in two straight sessions, gathering more than 110 points or 3.6 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 2,990-point plateau although the rally may stall on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on rising concerns over the effect of the coronavirus on the global economy. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The SCI finished modestly higher on Tuesday as gains from the financial shares and oil companies were mitigated by weakness from the insurance stocks and properties.
For the day, the index advanced 21.97 points or 0.74 percent to finish at 2,992.90 after trading between 2,976.62 and 3,026.84. The Shenzhen Composite Index climbed 19.27 points or 1.03 percent to end at 1,888.92.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China added 0.37 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.56 percent, China Construction Bank rose 0.15 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 0.37 percent, China Life Insurance sank 0.76 percent, Ping An Insurance eased 0.11 percent, PetroChina perked 0.39 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) increased 0.21 percent, China Shenhua Energy advanced 0.96 percent, Gemdale tumbled 2.80 percent, Poly Developments fell 0.48 percent and China Vanke dipped 0.10 percent.
The lead from Wall Street suggests consolidation as stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Tuesday.
The Dow shed 785.91 points or 2.94 percent to end at 25,917.41, while the NASDAQ lost 268.08 points or 2.99 percent to 8,684.09 and the S&P fell 86.86 points or 2.81 percent to 3,003.37.
The sell-off on Wall Street came after the Federal Reserve announced a surprise decision to cut interest rates by 50 basis points to 1 to 1-1/4 percent. The move was partly seen as an effort to calm the markets in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak but may have served to raise concerns about how severely the central bank expects the epidemic to impact the economy.
Crude oil prices surged higher on Tuesday amid expectations that OPEC and allies will deepen production cuts during their meeting this week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended up $0.43 or 0.9 percent at $47.18 a barrel, after having peaking at $48.66 at one point.
Closer to home, China will see February results for the services and composite indexes from Caixin later this morning; in January, their scores were 51.8 and 51.9, respectively.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX