China Shares Due For Support On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, slipping almost 85 points or 2.1 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 4,050-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside ahead of the U.S. monetary policy announcement later today. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Tuesday as losses from the resource and energy stock were mitigated by support from the financial and property sectors.

For the day, the index dropped 34.88 points or 0.85 percent to finish at 4,049.91 after trading between 4,049.58 and 4,108.40. The Shenzhen Composite Index tumbled 50.61 points or 1.87 percent to end at 2,655.04.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China jumped 1.93 percent, while Bank of China vaulted 1.85 percent, Agricultural Bank of China strengthened 1.65 percent, China Merchants Bank added 0.53 percent, Bank of Communications climbed 1.02 percent, China Life Insurance collected 1.47 percent, Jiangxi Copper retreated 1.48 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plunged 3.84 percent, Yankuang Energy plummeted 4.31 percent, PetroChina rose 0.25 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) declined 1.26 percent, Huaneng Power tumbled 1.96 percent, China Shenhua Energy slumped 1.55 percent, Gemdale improved 0.97 percent, Poly Developments gained 0.62 percent and China Vanke advanced 0.86 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday and remained in the green throughout the day, although off session highs.

The Dow added 46.85 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 46,993.26, while the NASDAQ climbed 105.35 points or 0.47 percent to end at 22,479.53 and the S&P 500 added 16.71 points or 0.25 percent to close at 6,716.09.

The early strength on Wall Street came as traders attempted to shrug off the recent volatility shown by the price of crude oil, which has been a key driver of trading in recent sessions.

Crude oil prices surged Tuesday as Iran stepped up its attack on energy infrastructure in the Middle East in its war against the U.S. and Israel. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was up $2.57 or 2.75 percent at $96.07 per barrel.

The Israeli military also said it had begun a "wide-scale wave of strikes" across Iran's capital and was also stepping up strikes on Iran-backed Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

Traders were also reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will pay close attention to central bank officials' latest projections.