China Stock Market May Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had dropped more than 55 points or 1.5 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,850-point plateau although it's likely to open under pressure on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with technology shares expected to fall under pressure. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the property stocks and resource companies, while the financial sector came in mixed. For the day, the index gained 31.81 points or 0.83 percent to finish at 3,853.64 after trading between 3,804.33 and 3,854.92. The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 38.51 points or 1.56 percent to end at 2,505.51. Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China advanced 0.95 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.38 percent, Agricultural Bank of China retreated 1.20 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 0.55 percent, Bank of Communications dropped 0.86 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.16 percent, Jiangxi Copper and Huaneng Power both rose 0.28 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) perked 0.26 percent, Yankuang Energy sank 0.73 percent, PetroChina eased 0.12 percent, China Shenhua Energy was up 0.23 percent, Gemdale rallied 3.27 percent, Poly Developments added 0.52 percent, China Vanke climbed 1.18 percent and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened slightly higher on Wednesday but gradually turned lower and finished solidly in the red.

The Dow shed 171.50 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 46,121.28, while the NASDAQ lost 75.62 points or 0.33 percent to close at 22,497.86 and the S&P 500 sank 18.95 points or 0.28 percent to end at 6,637.97.

The extended pullback on Wall Street may have reflected uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the artificial intelligence trade following Tuesday's weakness.

AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) slid by 0.9 percent after tumbling by 2.8 percent on Tuesday, while fellow AI player Oracle (ORCL) slumped by 1.7 percent.

Concerns about valuations may also have continued to weigh on the markets after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggesting he believes stocks may be overvalued.

Crude oil prices soared on Wednesday due to the increasing likelihood of Russian oil exports facing heavy U.S. sanctions. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for November delivery was up $1.61 or 2.54 percent at $65.02 per barrel.