(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished higher now in four straight sessions, gathering nearly 130 points or 3.7 percent en route to a fresh 14-week closing high. The Shanghai Composite Index finished just above the 3,300-point plateau, and now investors are looking for continued gains at the opening of trade on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly pessimistic, although commodity stocks are likely to continue to provide support thanks to yet another fresh record high for the price of gold. Oil stocks also may extend gains, while technology stocks and airlines are expected to see sustained selling pressure. The European markets finished little changed and on opposite sides of the unchanged line, while the U.S. markets ended slightly lower - and the Asian markets are also tipped to trend lightly to the downside.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Wednesday, thanks to solid gains from the financials. Oil stocks and coal miners also finished higher.

For the day, the index put on 20.34 points or 0.6 percent to finish at 3,303.23 after trading between 3,274.21 and 3,315.87. The Shenzhen Index added 0.3 percent to end at 1,188.47.

Among the gainers, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China added 1.1 percent, while Bank of China gained 1.9 percent, PetroChina climbed 1.2 percent, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) jumped 3.3 percent, China Shenhua Energy collected 1.5 percent and Zhengzhou Coal Industry & Electric Power surged 4.9 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is mildly negative as stocks fell by slim margins on Wednesday, with worrisome data on inflation and the housing market prompting some traders to reduce their positions in equities. The major averages all closed in negative territory, although well off their worst levels of the day.

Earlier, a report from the Labor Department showed that consumer prices increased for the third consecutive month in October, with the continued price growth partly due to a notable increase in energy prices. The consumer price index increased by 0.3 percent in October following an unrevised 0.2 percent increase in September. Economists had been expecting a somewhat more modest increase of 0.2 percent.

Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, increased 0.2 percent in October, matching the increase seen in the previous month. The modest increase in core prices came in slightly above economist estimates of a 0.1 percent increase. The report raised inflation concerns among traders amid news that St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard indicated that the Federal Reserve might not raise interest rates from near zero levels until 2012.

Separately, the Commerce Department reported that the rate of housing starts unexpectedly declined in October, although analysts pointed to uncertainty about the first-time home buyer tax credit as a possible reason behind the drop. Housing starts fell 10.6 percent to an annual rate of 529,000 in October from the revised September estimate of 592,000. The drop surprised economists, who had expected starts to edge up to 600,000 from the previous month’s initial estimate of 590,000.

In other news, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Penn., unveiled an amendment to financial regulation reform legislation before the House Financial Services Committee aimed at ending the problem of firms that have become “too big to fail.”

Kanjorski said the plan would give federal regulators new authorities to rein in and dismantle large, interconnected firms whose unregulated failure could threaten the stability of the entire financial system.

The major averages staged a recovery attempt in late day trading but were unable to break into positive territory. The Dow fell by 11.11 points or 0.1 percent to 10,426.23, the NASDAQ dropped by 10.64 points or 0.5 percent to 2,193.14 and the S&P 500 edged down by 0.52 points or 0.1 percent to 1,109.80.

In economic news, the International Monetary Fund’s chief noted on Tuesday that the Chinese government’s strategy to move away from a heavy reliance on exports to domestic consumption would help rebalance the country’s growth model. He reiterated that China should allow its currency to rise further.

At the end of his visit to China, the IMF’s managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn pointed out that a part of the rebalancing effort for the country would include letting its currency, the yuan, rise further, apart from other policies. “China’s efforts, alongside those of deficit countries to increase their saving, should help to reduce global imbalances”, Strauss-Kahn said.

Also, China faces the risk of asset price bubbles, People’s Bank of China adviser Fan Gang said Wednesday. Like in other emerging markets, commodity market bubble risk also exists in China. There is excessive speculation and the property market is not “crazy,” Fan said in Hong Kong.

Earlier this week, the chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission Liu Mingkang said in Beijing that low interest rates in the U.S. and a weak dollar affected global asset prices and generated speculation. Also, the official said, it developed risks to global economic recovery, especially in emerging-market economies.

In corporate news, China Sunergy Co. said its third-quarter net income attributable to ordinary shareholders climbed to $7.82 million from $0.21 million a year earlier. Net income per ADS grew significantly to $0.19 from $0.01 in the previous year.

Excluding share-based compensation and the change in the fair value of foreign currency derivatives, non-GAAP net loss for the quarter was US$1.33 million or $0.03 per ADS compared with a profit of $1.98 million or $0.05 per ADS last year.

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Posted in Categories: Eurozone, Releases, Stocks, USA.

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