BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market on Wednesday snapped the three-day winning streak in which it had gained more than 55 points or 1.8 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,285-point plateau and the losses may accelerate on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower after the Federal Reserve downgraded its GDP forecast. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were mostly in the red and the Asian markets also figure to open lower.
The SCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday as losses from the insurance companies were mitigated by support from the financial shares and property stocks.
For the day, the index lost 11.76 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 3,283.92 after trading between 3,271.07 and 3,302.46. The Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 20.14 points or 0.91 percent to end at 2,185.22.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.41 percent, while China Construction Bank rose 0.16 percent, China Merchants Bank added 0.42 percent, Bank of Communications gained 0.65 percent, China Life Insurance skidded 1.06 percent, Ping An Insurance sank 0.64 percent, PetroChina was up 0.24 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) gathered 0.51 percent, China Shenhua Energy climbed 1.18 percent, Gemdale jumped 1.86 percent, Poly Developments advanced 1.06 percent, China Vanke perked 1.15 percent and Bank of China was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street suggests consolidation as stocks were unable to hold early gains on Wednesday, slipping mostly into the red in the final hour of trade.
The Dow added 36.78 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 28,032.38, while the NASDAQ plunged 139.86 points or 1.25 percent to end at 11,050.47 and the S&P 500 fell 15.71 points or 0.46 percent to close at 3,385.49.
The late-day pullback came despite a dovish monetary policy announcement by the Fed, with the central bank leaving interest rates unchanged and signaling rates are likely to remain at near-zero levels for years to come.
But the Fed also downwardly revised its estimates for GDP growth in 2021 and 2022 to 4.0 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively. GDP growth in 2023 was forecast at 2.5 percent.
The sharp drop by the NASDAQ came as big-name tech companies like Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB), Netflix (NFLX) and Amazon (AMZN) gave ground after solid gains a day earlier.
In economic news, the Commerce Department noted a slowdown in the pace of retail sales growth in August. Also, the National Association of Home Builders said homebuilder confidence jumped to a record high in September.
Crude oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session after data showed an unexpected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended up $1.88 or 4.9 percent at $40.16 a barrel.
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