China Stock Market Predicted To Open Under Pressure On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Wednesday ended the four-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 140 points or 4.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,360-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat and mixed to lower on recession concerns and sliding crude oil prices. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the resource stocks, while the financials and properties offered support.

For the day, the index slumped 47.69 points or 1.40 percent to finish at 3,361.52 after trading between 3,358.47 and 3,414.65. The Shenzhen Composite Index tumbled 49.41 points or 2.20 percent to end at 2,194.51.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China advanced 0.85 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.31 percent, China Construction Bank added 0.50 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 0.65 percent, Bank of Communications gained 0.40 percent, China Life Insurance rose 0.30 percent, Jiangxi Copper plunged 3.62 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plummeted 3.84 percent, Yankuang Energy fell 0.28 percent, PetroChina dropped 0.93 percent, China Shenhua Energy gathered 0.40 percent, Gemdale skyrocketed 10.03 percent, Poly Developments surged 7.05 percent, China Vanke soared 6.40 percent, Beijing Capital Development spiked 2.48 percent, China Fortune Land jumped 1.89 percent and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) and Huaneng Power were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is fairly flat as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday, spiked up and down throughout the day before finally ending the session mixed and little changed.

The Dow climbed 82.32 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 31,029.31, while the NASDAQ dipped 3.65 points or 0.03 percent to close at 11,177.89 and the S&P 500 eased 2.72 points or 0.07 percent to end at 3,818.83.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets kept traders on the sidelines following recent volatility.

Traders also kept an eye on remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who participated in a panel discussion at the European Central Bank Forum on Central Banking. Powell reiterated that the U.S. economy is "well positioned to withstand tighter monetary policy" but cautioned there's no guarantee the Fed can engineer a "soft landing."

In economic news, revised data from the Commerce Department showed U.S. economic activity shrank by slightly more than previously estimated in the first quarter of 2022.

Crude oil prices drifted lower Wednesday, snapping a three-day winning streak with traders looking to the two-day OPEC meeting that began today to discuss supply issues. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $1.98 or 1.8 percent at $109.78 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will see June results for the manufacturing PMI from the National Bureau of Statistics later this morning, with forecasts suggesting a score of 50.5 - up from 49.6 in May. The non-manufacturing PMI had a score of 47.8 in the previous month and the composite was at 48.4.