BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has ended lower in five straight sessions, surrendering more than 210 points or 6.3 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite index now sits just beneath the 3,360-point plateau although it's overdue for support on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, although technology stocks may take a hit following recent sharp gains. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.
The SCI finished barely lower on Wednesday following losses from the properties and oil companies, while the financials and resource stocks were mixed.
For the day, the index eased 1.55 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 3,357.74 after trading between 3,354.82 and 3,397.03. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 4.44 points or 0.21 percent to end at 2,165.35.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Jiangxi Copper both skidded 1.10 percent, while China Merchants Bank jumped 1.55 percent, Bank of Communications collected 0.22 percent, China Life Insurance plunged 4.16 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) retreated 1.24 percent, Yanzhou Coal added 0.60 percent, PetroChina tumbled 1.79 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) tanked 2.21 percent, Anhui Conch Cement advanced 0.97 percent, China Shenhua Energy dropped 0.83 percent, Gemdale declined 1.47 percent, Poly Developments and China Vanke both sank 1.06 percent, China Fortune Land plummeted 4.80 percent and Bank of China and China Construction Bank were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is mostly positive as stocks opened higher on Wednesday, with the Dow and S&P 500 holding on to solid gains while the NASDAQ slipped into the red on profit taking.
The Dow jumped 464.28 points or 1.46 percent to finish at 32,297.02, while the NASDAQ eased 4.99 points or 0.04 percent to end at 13,068.83 and the S&P 500 rose 23.37 points or 0.60 percent to close at 3,898.81.
Stocks moved mostly higher early in the session after the Labor Department noted tame consumer price inflation in February. Concerns about inflation have contributed to the recent spike in bond yields, which has resulted in considerable volatility on Wall Street.
Bond yields pulled back near the unchanged line following the release of the inflation data after moving modestly higher earlier in the day.
Early buying interest was also generated by reports that the U.S. plans to buy 100 million additional doses of Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) Covid-19 vaccine.
Despite a rise in U.S. crude inventories last week, crude oil futures closed higher on Wednesday, rebounding from recent losses. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended up $0.43 or 0.7 percent at $64.44 a barrel.
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