BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 50 points or 1.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just shy of the 3,575-point plateau although it's likely to turn emphatically lower again on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft due to coronavirus relief package concerns and heavy speculative trading. The European and U.S. markets were solidly lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.
The SCI finished slightly higher on Wednesday as gains from the financials were offset by weakness from the properties and resource stocks.
For the day, the index rose 3.91 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 3,573.34 after trading between 3,546.49 and 3,578.80. The Shenzhen Composite Index gained 6.76 points or 0.28 percent to end at 2,420.92.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China advanced 0.80 percent, while China Construction Bank climbed 0.90 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 1.17 percent, Bank of Communications rose 0.22 percent, China Life Insurance added 0.27 percent, Jiangxi Copper skidded 1.42 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tumbled 1.77 percent, Yanzhou Coal retreated 1.08 percent, PetroChina fell 0.24 percent, China Shenhua Energy gained 0.33 percent, Gemdale plunged 2.91 percent, Poly Developments tanked 1.58 percent, China Vanke declined 1.01 percent, China Fortune Land plummeted 3.68 percent and Bank of China and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as stocks opened sharply lower on Wednesday and the losses accelerated going into the close.
The Dow plunged 633 points or 2.05 percent to finish at 30,303.17, while the NASDAQ tumbled 355.47 points or 2.61 percent to end at 13,270.60 and the S&P 500 dropped 98.85 points or 2.57 percent to close at 3,750.77.
The sell-off on Wall Street came as traders worried about recent speculative trading by retail investors amid continued spikes by heavily shorted stocks like GameStop (GME) and AMC Entertainment (AMC) - which skyrocketed on the day, leading to concerns hedge funds may need to sell other securities to offset their mounting losses.
Stocks sank further following the Federal Reserve's first monetary policy announcement of the year. The Fed left interest rates unchanged as expected and will maintain its asset purchase program at the current pace. But traders were disappointed the central bank did not provide clarity about the outlook for its bond purchases.
In earnings news, shares of aerospace leader Boeing (BA) and coffee giant Starbucks (SBUX) tumbled after disappointing reports, while shares of Microsoft (MSFT) ticked higher after beating the street.
In economic news, the Commerce Department said new orders for manufactured durable goods rose by much less than expected in December.
Crude oil futures settled higher on Wednesday after data showed a substantial drop in U.S. crude stockpiles last week, although the upside was limited by ongoing demand concerns caused by the coronavirus. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended up $0.24 or 0.5 percent at $52.85 a barrel.
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