China likely to extend gains
Updated: 2007-11-21 08:02
In the absence of any further negative data from the People's Bank of China or the Chinese government, investors are hoping that China's Shanghai Composite Index has finally snapped its recent losing streak ahead of Wednesday's market open.
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For the day, the index picked up 23.88 points or 0.45 percent to close at 5,293.70. Turnover was 79.33 billion yuan.
Pacing the gainers were the steel companies. Tangshan Steel up by 10 percent, while Baoshan Iron & Steel rose 3.9 percent and Angang Steel soared 9.6 percent.
Also higher, China Eastern Airlines Corp rose 1.08 percent, while oil giant PetroChina dipped by 1.65 percent.
Wall Street provides a mixed message for the market. The Dow moved back above the 13,000 mark on Tuesday in a volatile trading session, eventually ending in positive territory.
But the Federal Reserve released the minutes of its October meeting, when it lowered interest rates by 25 basis points. The minutes showed that the decision to reduce rates was a close call - which is bad news for global stock markets, who hope for another rate cut in December.
After seeing significant strength in morning trading, stocks came under pressure in the late morning and early afternoon. Nonetheless, the markets managed to climb back out of negative territory in late-day trading, largely on strength within oil related stocks and on hopes for an upcoming interest rate reduction.
The Dow reversed sharp losses from the previous session to close up 51.70 points, or 0.40 percent, at 13,010.14. The Nasdaq finished with a modest rise, gaining 3.43 points, or 0.13 percent, ending the day at 2,596.81, while the S&P 500 posted the largest percentage gain of 0.45 percent, or 6.43 points, to end at 1,439.70.
In economic news, China's consumer price index (CPI) is seen to grow by about 4 percent in 2008, the official China Securities Journal reported Wednesday, while the economy is projected to grow around 10.5 percent. Investment growth in 2008 likely will be around 25 percent, the report added, with export growth near 20 percent.
Also, China Finance Online Co Ltd saw net income for the third quarter of 2007 climb to $1.9 million, up from $557,000 a year ago, the company announced Wednesday. For the quarter, revenue came in at $7.3 million, compared with $1.7 million in 2006.
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