The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on recession concerns and on the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.
For the day, the index shed 12.91 points or 0.40 percent to finish at 3,199.62 after trading between 3,188.67 and 3,226.08. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 3.11 points or 0.15 percent to end at 2,071.04.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.46 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.32 percent, China Construction Bank dropped 0.89 percent, China Merchants Bank retreated 1.48 percent, Bank of Communications eased 0.21 percent, China Life Insurance tumbled 1.98 percent, Jiangxi Copper declined 1.46 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plunged 2.64 percent, Yankuang Energy tanked 2.42 percent, PetroChina slumped 1.70 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) stumbled 1.29 percent, Huaneng Power plummeted 3.57 percent, China Shenhua Energy surrendered 2.37 percent, Gemdale crashed 3.17 percent, Poly Developments lost 2.42 percent and China Vanke skidded 3.55 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is mixed to lower following a volatile Wednesday that saw the major averages bounce back and forth across the unchanged line before ending on opposite sides.
The Dow rose 1.58 points or 0.00 percent to finish at 33,597.92, while the NASDAQ sank 56.34 points or 0.51 percent to end at 10,958.55 and the S&P 500 dipped 7.34 points or 0.19 percent to close at 3,933.92.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders expressed uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting.
The Fed still seems poised to slow the pace of interest rate hikes, but recent upbeat economic data has raised concerns about how much further the central bank will raise rates at future meetings.
The recent selling on Wall Street partly reflects worries the Fed will need to push the economy into a prolonged recession in order to bring inflation down close to its 2 percent target.
Crude oil prices fell sharply Wednesday, weighed down by data showing a sharp increase in gasoline inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for January ended lower by $2.24 or 3 percent at $72.01 a barrel, losing for the fourth consecutive session.