(RTTNews.com) - The China stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, retreating almost 30 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 2,465-point plateau and it's expected to open I the red again on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative, with bad news from Apple expected to weigh heavily on technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets were firmly in the red and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.
The SCI finished barely lower on Thursday as gains from the oil, finance and property stocks offset weakness from the broader market.
For the day, the index eased 0.93 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 2,464.36 after trading between 2,455.93 and 2,488.48. The Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 10.02 points or 0.80 percent to end at 1,246.37.
Among the actives, China Merchants Bank jumped 1.26 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.28 percent, China Construction Bank added 0.16 percent, China Life Insurance climbed 1.05 percent, Ping An Insurance gathered 0.91 percent, PetroChina advanced 0.70 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rose 0.60 percent, China Shenhua Energy shed 0.45 percent, Gemdale was up 1.06 percent, Poly Developments perked 1.62 percent, China Vanke gained 0.71 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and CITIC Securities were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is brutal as stocks opened sharply lower on Thursday and remained that way throughout the session.
The Dow shed 660.02 points or 2.83 percent to 22,686.22, while the NASDAQ lost 202.43 points or 3.04 percent to 6,463.50 and the S&P fell 62.14 points or 2.48 percent to 2,447.89.
Downwardly revised guidance from Apple ( AAPL ) contributed to the early selloff on Wall Street, with the tech giant plunging 10 percent. The lower guidance was attributed to a greater than expected impact from economic weakness in some emerging markets and China.
In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management noted a bigger than expected slowdown in U.S. manufacturing activity in December. Also, payroll processor ADP reported much stronger than expected U.S. private sector job growth in December.
Crude oil prices extended gains to a fourth successive session Thursday on hopes the proposed reduction in oil output by OPEC will allay fears of excess supply in the market. Crude oil futures for February ended up $0.55 or 1.2 percent at $47.09 a barrel.
Closer to home, China will see December results for the services and composite PMIs from Caixin. In November, the services PMI had a score of 53.8 and the composite was at 51.9.
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