The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on rising concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.
The SCI finished barely higher on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.
For the day, the index perked 0.72 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 3,212.53 after trading between 3,195.08 and 3,224.82. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 5.30 points or 0.26 percent to end at 2,067.93.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rose 0.23 percent, while China Construction Bank collected 0.36 percent, China Merchants Bank sank 0.69 percent, Bank of Communications perked 0.21 percent, China Life Insurance shed 0.67 percent, Jiangxi Copper dropped 0.84 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) climbed 1.02 percent, Yankuang Energy advanced 0.96 percent, PetroChina lost 0.75 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.65 percent, Huaneng Power plunged 3.32 percent, China Shenhua Energy gained 0.40 percent, Gemdale eased 0.26 percent, Poly Developments retreated 1.29 percent, China Vanke improved 1.37 percent, China Fortune Land tanked 2.79 percent and Bank of China was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street remains negative as the major averages opened lower and continued deeper into the red as the day progressed, ending near session lows.
The Dow retreated 350.76 points or 1.03 percent to finish at 33,596.76, while the NASDAQ tumbled 225.05 points or 2.00 percent to close at 11,014.89 and the S&P 500 dropped 57.58 points or 1.44 percent to end at 3,941.26.
The extended sell-off on Wall Street reflected lingering concerns about the outlook for interest rates ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting.
While the Fed is widely expected to slow the pace of interest rate hikes next week, recent upbeat economic data has raised concerns about how much further the central bank will raise rates at future meetings.
In economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing the U.S. trade deficit widened in the month of October.
Crude oil prices dropped to an 11-month low on Tuesday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand as uncertainty and consequences of a continued Fed tightening weighed on the commodity. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended lower by $2.68 or 3.5 percent at $74.25 a barrel.
Closer to home, China will release November numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later today. Imports are expected to sink 6.0 percent on year after dipping 0.7 percent in October. Exports are called lower by an annual 3.5 percent after easing 0.3 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $78.1 billion, down from 85.1 billion a month earlier.