BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market turned emphatically lower again on Wednesday, one session after it had ended the four-day losing streak in which it had surrendered almost 100 points or 3 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,250-point plateau although it's predicted to see a solid recovery on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with bargain hunting on the menu - especially among the technology and oil stocks, which were hammered in recent days. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.
The SCI finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and oil and insurance companies.
For the day, the index plunged 61.79 points or 1.86 percent to finish at 3,254.63 after trading between 3,238.56 and 3,289.61. The Shenzhen Composite Index plummeted 72.43 points or 3.32 percent to end at 2,175.77.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 0.20 percent, while China Construction Bank shed 0.64 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 0.03 percent, Bank of Communications lost 0.43 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 0.91 percent, Ping An Insurance, PetroChina sank 0.70 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) retreated 0.76 percent, China Shenhua Energy skidded 1.39 percent, Gemdale tumbled 1.63 percent, Poly Developments declined 1.26 percent, China Vanke surrendered 1.13 percent and Bank of China was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is solid as stocks opened sharply higher on Wednesday and stayed that way throughout the trading day.
The Dow spiked 439.58 points or 1.60 percent to finish at 27,940.47, while the NASDAQ jumped 293.87 points or 2.71 percent to end at 11,141.56 and the S&P 500 climbed 67.12 points or 2.01 percent to close at 3,398.96.
The rebound on Wall Street came as some traders picked up stocks at reduced levels following the recent sell-off. Technology stocks showed a substantial rebound - especially Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), and Amazon (AMZN).
Gold stocks moved sharply higher, along with chemical, housing and retail stocks.
Crude oil prices surged higher on Wednesday, rebounding sharply from heavy selling a session earlier. Up from a three-month low, West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures for October ended up $1.29 or 3.5 percent at $38.05 a barrel.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX