BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of the three-day slide in which it had dropped almost 130 points or 3.8 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,575-point plateau although it's expected to open under pressure again on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower thanks to renewed concerns over bond yields. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the somewhat overbought Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.
The SCI finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares, properties and resource stocks.
For the day, the index spiked 68.31 points or 1.95 percent to finish at 3,576.90 after trading between 3,498.72 and 3,577.62. The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 30.35 points or 1.30 percent to end at 2,363.11.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rallied 3.02 percent, Bank of China climbed 1.55 percent, China Construction Bank surged 6.24 percent, China Merchants Bank soared 6.50 percent, Bank of Communications collected 1.54 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 2.81 percent, Jiangxi Copper added 0.75 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) spiked 6.76 percent, Yanzhou Coal skyrocketed 7.11 percent, PetroChina gathered 0.94 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) perked 1.83 percent, Baoshan Iron accelerated 9.39 percent, Gemdale gained 1.57 percent, Poly Developments rose 0.37 percent, China Vanke improved 0.63 percent and Beijing Capital Development was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks opened mixed on Wednesday but ended firmly in the red, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ hit especially hard.
The Dow sank 121.43 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 31,270.09, while the NASDAQ plummeted 361.04 points or 2.70 percent to end at 12,997.75 and the S&P 500 dropped 50.57 points or 1.31 percent to close at 3,819.72.
The continued weakness on Wall Street came as bond yields saw a notable rebound after trending lower over the past few sessions. Yields remain well off the highs set last week, but renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates and inflation weighed on highly-flying tech stocks.
The rebound by yields came amid optimism about the coronavirus vaccine rollouts, which had also contributed to an advance by stocks futures before the bond markets opened. President Joe Biden has said the U.S. will have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May.
In economic news, payroll processor ADP noted weaker than expected private sector job growth in February, while the Institute for Supply Management reported a slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. service sector activity last month.
Crude oil futures were sharply higher Wednesday amid speculation that OPEC may decide to extend production curbs for the near future. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended up $1.53 or 2.62 percent at $61.28 a barrel.
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