China Market falls ahead of manufacturing data

The Mainland China equity market closed down for a third straight session on Thursday, 30 August 2018, as investors continued withdrawing profit off the table amid worries about the escalating Washington-Beijing trade war and ahead of manufacturing data due on Friday. At closing bell, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index declined 1.14%, or 31.56 points, to 2,737.74, while the Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, fell 1.48%, or 22.10 points, to 1,467.18. The blue-chip CSI300 index dropped 1.05%, or 35.48 points, to 3,351.09.

Investor confidences were remaining weak amid signs of factory activity slowing under pressure from the trade spat with the United States. Activity in China's vast factory sector likely slowed for the third straight month in August as domestic demand remained weak and exporters faced rising uncertainties from the escalating trade war with the United States.

CURRENCY NEWS: China's yuan weakened against the U.S. dollar on THursday, inline with softer mid-point fixing by People Bank of China and heavy corporate demand for dollars. Prior to the market opening, the PBOC set the midpoint rate at 6.8113 per dollar, 41 pips or 0.06 percent weaker than the previous fix of 6.8072. In the spot market, the onshore yuan opened at 6.8237 per dollar and was changing hands at 6.8304 at late afternoon, 99 pips weaker than the previous late session close and 0.28 percent softer than the midpoint. The offshore yuan was trading 0.03 percent weaker than the onshore spot at 6.8326 per dollar.

OFFSHORE MARKET NEWS, US stock market closed higher on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped rose 60.55 points or 0.2% to 26,124.57, the Nasdaq jumped 79.65 points or 1% to 8,109.69, and the S&P 500 climbed 16.52 points or 0.6% to 2,914.04.

The major European stock markets ended mixed on Wednesday. The German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both rose by 0.3%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.7%.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News