BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day slide in which it had stumbled almost a dozen points or 0.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,440-point plateau and it's expected to remain in that neighborhood again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy statement later today. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed and largely flat and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.
The SCI finished barely higher on Tuesday as gains from the properties were offset by weakness from the financials and a mixed picture from the resource stocks.
For the day, the index rose 1.45 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 3,442.61 after trading between 3,417.26 and 3,443.85. The Shenzhen Composite Index gained 0.62 points to end at 2,281.93.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.57 percent, while China Construction Bank sank 0.71 percent, Bank of Communications dipped 0.21 percent, China Minsheng Bank retreated 1.66 percent, China Life Insurance soared 4.16 percent, Jiangxi Copper surged 4.97 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) climbed 1.37 percent, Yanzhou Coal tanked 2.50 percent, PetroChina lost 0.72 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) fell 0.24 percent, China Shenhua Energy dropped 0.73 percent, Gemdale climbed 1.52 percent, Poly Developments advanced 0.86 percent, China Vanke improved 0.83 percent, Beijing Capital Development gained 0.82 percent and Bank of China and China Merchants Bank were unchanged.
There's not much guidance from Wall Street as the major averages spent Tuesday's session bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before ending mixed and little changed.
The Dow rose 3.36 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 33,984.93, while the NASDAQ shed 48.56 points or 0.34 percent to end at 14,090.22 and the S&P 500 eased 0.90 points or 0.02 percent to close at 4,186.72.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as many traders stuck to the sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy decision later today. The Fed is widely expected to maintain its ultra-easy monetary policy, but traders will look for any changes to the accompanying statement that may signal a shift in the near future.
In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board said consumer confidence spiked in April, hitting its highest level since February 2020.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Tuesday as OPEC's decision to gradually increase oil output helped offset concerns about energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $1.03 or 1.7 percent at $62.94 a barrel.
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