BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost 85 points or 2.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,660-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on interest rate and COVID-19 concerns, with oil and technology stocks again expected to lead the way lower. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.
The SCI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.
For the day, the index lost 19.56 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 3,661.53 after trading between 3,654.66 and 3,671.68. The Shenzhen Composite Index dipped 3.66 points or 0.14 percent to end at 2,558.25.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slid 0.22 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.33 percent, China Construction Bank dropped 0.85 percent, China Merchants Bank tanked 2.42 percent, Bank of Communications shed 0.66 percent, China Life Insurance lost 0.43 percent, Jiangxi Copper surrendered 1.93 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plummeted 4.85 percent, Yanzhou Coal plunged 3.01 percent, PetroChina tumbled 2.02 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) retreated 1.42 percent, Huaneng Power sank 0.57 percent, China Shenhua Energy declined 2.57 percent, Gemdale cratered 3.67 percent, Poly Developments skidded 3.59 percent, China Vanke dropped 2.01 percent and Beijing Capital eased 0.18 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages spent most of the day in the red, although they finished off session lows.
The Dow skidded 106.77 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 35,544.18, while the NASDAQ tumbled 175.64 points or 1.14 percent to end at 15,237.64 and the S&P 500 sank 34.88 points or 0.75 percent to close at 4,634.09.
Concerns about the outlook for monetary policy continued to weigh on the markets as the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting got underway. With inflation remaining at an elevated rate, the Fed is widely expected to accelerate its timetable for reducing bond purchases.
Potentially adding to concerns about monetary policy, the Labor Department released a report showing producer prices increased by more than expected in November.
Lingering worries about the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus may also have generated some selling pressure after the World Health Organization warned the new variant is spreading faster than previous strains.
Crude oil futures dipped Tuesday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to renewed restrictions amid rising new cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down by $0.56 or 0.8 percent at $70.73 a barrel.
Closer to home, China is scheduled to release a raft of data this morning, including November numbers for house prices, fixed asset investment, industrial production, retail sales and unemployment.
Fixed asset investment is tipped to rise 5.4 percent on year, slowing from 6.1 percent in October. Industrial production is called higher by an annual 3.6 percent, up from 3.5 percent in the previous month. Retail sales are expected to add 4.6 percent, down from 4.9 percent a month earlier. In October, house prices were up 3.4 percent on year and the jobless rate was 4.9 percent.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX