BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has finished higher in two straight sessions, collecting more than 60 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 4,130-point plateau although it's tipped to open in the red on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of the release of U.S. employment data later today. The European and U.S. markets finished mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.
The SCI finished slightly higher on Tuesday as gains from the financials and resource stocks were capped by weakness from the property sector.
For the day, the index rose 5.28 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 4,128.37 after trading between 4,117.56 and 4,134.34. The Shenzhen Composite Index perked 1.46 points or 0.05 percent to end at 2,701.68.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was up 0.27 percent, while Bank of China expanded 0.56 percent, Agricultural Bank of China gained 0.30 percent, China Merchants Bank lost 0.35 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.41 percent, Jiangxi Copper rose 0.25 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) added 0.77 percent, PetroChina perked 0.09 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) shed 0.62 percent, Huaneng Power fell 0.29 percent, China Shenhua Energy added 0.64 percent, Gemdale contracted 1.99 percent, Poly Developments tanked 2.68 percent, China Vanke tumbled 1.61 percent and Yankuang Energy was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday, hugged both sides of the line all day and then finished little changed.
The Dow rose 52.27 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 50,188.14, while the NASDAQ slumped 136.20 points or 0.59 percent to end at 23,102.47 and the S&P 500 sank 23.01 points or 0.33 percent to close at 6,941.81.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today.
The report, which was delayed due to the brief government shutdown last week, is expected to show employment climbed by 70,000 jobs in January after rising by 50,000 jobs in December. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 4.4 percent.
Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a Commerce Department report showing retail sales in the U.S. were unexpectedly flat in December. A separate report from the Labor Department showed import prices in the U.S. crept up in line with estimates in December.
Crude oil prices ticked lower on Tuesday ahead of the U.S. jobs data. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was down $0.12 of 0.19 percent to $64.24 per barrel.
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