China Stocks Have Flat Lead For Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost 70 points or 1.8 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,890-point plateau and it's expected to see little movement on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement as the world waits for developments in the Middle East. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Tuesday as gains from the oil and resource stocks were offset by weakness from the finance and property sectors.

For the day, the index rose 10.07 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 3,890.16 after trading between 3,875.68 and 3,902.61. The Shenzhen Composite Index gained 19.95 points or 0.80 percent to end at 2,518.39.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China retreated 1.33 percent, while Bank of China shed 0.34 percent, Agricultural Bank of China tanked 2.19 percent, China Merchants Bank dropped 1.04 percent, Bank of Communications slumped 1.14 percent, China Life Insurance skidded 1.11 percent, Jiangxi Copper advanced 0.89 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) strengthened 1.61 percent, Yankuang Energy soared 3.49 percent, PetroChina accelerated 1.87 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) improved 0.85 percent, Huaneng Power tanked 2.47 percent, China Shenhua Energy jumped 1.77 percent, Gemdale vaulted 1.54 percent, Poly Developments dipped 0.18 percent and China Vanke fell 0.26 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity s the major averages spent most of Tuesday well under water before a late push saw them end mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 85.42 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 46,584.46, while the NASDAQ rose 21.51 points or 0.10 percent to close at 22,017.85 and the S&P 500 perked 5.02 points or 0.08 percent to end at 6,616.85.

Stocks showed a notable move to the upside late in the trading day after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called on President Donald Trump to extend his deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by two weeks to "allow diplomacy to run its course."

Trump had earlier threatened to attack Iran's power plants and bridges if Tehran fails to reach a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8 pm ET.

Crude oil prices have inched higher on Tuesday as Iran remains unresponsive to U.S. threats to open up the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up $0.65 or 0.58 percent at $113.06 per barrel.