BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, tumbling almost 130 points or 3.8 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,560-point plateau although it may finally halt its slide on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on easing bond yields and surging crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.
The SCI finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, resource stocks and oil companies, while the properties came in mixed.
For the day, the index plunged 72.28 points or 1.99 percent to finish at 3,564.08 after trading between 3,531.59 and 3,645.65. The Shenzhen Composite Index retreated 48.73 points or 2.03 percent to end at 2,347.28.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China skidded 1.49 percent, Bank of China fell 0.31 percent, China Construction Bank tumbled 3.12 percent, China Merchants Bank surrendered 3.51 percent, Bank of Communications shed 0.65 percent, China Life Insurance retreated 2.18 percent, Jiangxi Copper plummeted 6.70 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) declined 2.97 percent, Yanzhou Coal eased 0.11 percent, PetroChina sank 2.68 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) dropped 2.98 percent, Anhui Conch Cement climbed 1.31 percent, China Shenhua Energy lost 1.25 percent, Gemdale advanced 0.82 percent, Poly Developments jumped 1.16 percent, China Vanke was down 0.07 percent, China Fortune Land plunged 5.09 percent and Beijing Capital Development rose 0.18 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as stocks opened in the red on Wednesday but then quickly surged well into the green, accelerating into the close.
The Dow spiked 424.51 points or 1.35 percent to finish at 31,961.86, while the NASDAQ jumped 132.77 points or 0.99 percent to end at 13,597.97 and the S&P 500 gained 44.06 points or 1.14 percent to close at 3,925.43.
The rally on Wall Street came as bond yields gave ground after spiking early in the session. The yields on ten-year notes and thirty-year bonds reached their highest intraday levels in a year before pulling back as the day progressed.
The pullback by yields followed comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who again reiterating that the Fed is likely to maintain its ultra-easy monetary policy for the foreseeable future.
On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department noted a much bigger than expected jump in new home sales in the U.S. in January.
Crude oil prices were sharply higher Wednesday, fueled by the likely impact of last week's severe cold conditions on refinery activity in Texas. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended up $1.55 or 2.5 percent at $63.22 a barrel, the highest settlement since January 2020.
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