BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market on Wednesday snapped the four-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 130 points or 4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,410-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on economic recovery woes. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
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 retreated 42.96 points or 1.24 percent to finish at 3,408.13 after trading between 3,406.16 and 3,454.46. The Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 44.77 points or 1.95 percent to end at 2,253.68.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.40 percent, while Bank of China lost 0.60 percent, Minsheng Bank surrendered 0.88 percent, Bank of Communications fell 0.62 percent, China Construction Bank sank 0.79 percent, China Merchants Bank skidded 1.29 percent, China Life Insurance plummeted 7.54 percent, Ping An Insurance declined 1.98 percent, PetroChina slid 0.22 percent, China Shenhua Energy retreated 0.37 percent, Gemdale tumbled 1.30 percent, Poly Developments tanked 1.42 percent, China Vanke was down 0.94 percent and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks were unable to hold on to early gains on Wednesday, slipping firmly into the red.
The Dow shed 85.19 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 27,692.88, while the NASDAQ lost 64.38 points or 0.57 percent to end at 11.146.46 and the S&P 500 fell 14.93 points or 0.44 percent to close at 3,374.85.
The weakness that emerged on Wall Street followed the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's July monetary policy meeting. They noted that the coronavirus outbreak is causing tremendous human and economic hardship across the United States and around the world.
The Fed noted economic activity and employment have picked up somewhat in recent months but remain well below their levels at the beginning of the year.
Gold and biotech stocks were weak, as were commercial real estate, oil and steel stocks, contributing to the downturn by the broader markets.
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