China spared from Hurricane Sandy's destruction（打印版）

BEIJING, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Analysts say that Hurricane Sandy, which is currently blazing a path of destruction along the East Coast of the United States, might have temporary but limited impacts on the international market and China.

Although Sandy is raging half a world away from China, it has garnered considerable attention from the Chinese public, as domestic TV networks have broadcast live images and related pictures have gone viral on China's social media sites.

Hurricane Sandy ranked among the hottest topics on Sina Weibo, a popular microblogging service, on Tuesday. Photos of torrential rains and vehicles submerged in water-logged streets reminded people of recent storm events in Beijing.

Sandy has claimed at least 16 lives in the U.S. and darkened wide swaths of the country's Eastern Seaboard, inflicting estimated losses of over 10 billion U.S. dollars on insurers.

Sandy has been downgraded from a hurricane to a post-tropical cyclone, but is still expected to bring strong winds and downpours to the country's East Coast, according to the U.S. National Weather Service.

New York stock markets were closed for a second day Tuesday, as attention turned to whether Wall Street would resume operations on Wednesday, which marks the final trading day for October.

Toward midnight local time, there were confusing reports on whether the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) had been flooded. Major media outlets including CNN falsely reported that three feet of water stood on the trading floor, raising concerns of sustained delays to the exchange. (The reports were later corrected.)

It was the first time since 1888 that the NYSE has closed for two consecutive days because of inclement weather, but analysts have said the impact on global markets, and China in particular, would be limited.

"As much as Sandy could wreak havoc on the East Coast, a densely populated area and world center of finance, its worldwide impact would be insignificant," said Dr. Meng Qingbin at the Beijing-based Renmin University.

Meng said Sandy has halted exchanges but not supply or demand, "which would be far from sufficient to change the fundamentals of the global economy."

Meng and Du Peng, a management consultant, also pointed to the United States' repeated dealings with extreme weather conditions.

"America is not like Japan in 2011. America is much larger in land, giving it plenty of room to maneuver," said Du, who works with Adfaith, a Chinese consultancy.

But should Sandy prove as destructive as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it would be seen as a drag on the economy, cautioned a trader at Societe Generale.

Coupled with disappointing retail sales numbers from Spain and reports of possible instability in the Italian coalition government, a flight for U.S. Treasury bonds was seen prior to the closing of the market, as investors fled for safety.

Investors have been advised to keep their eyes on industries related to the rebuilding process following the superstorm, said Kevin Wei, who works for a major Chinese securities firm.

Sandy's immediate impact on commodities has been limited to oil, said Sun Yonggang, an analyst with China's Everbright Futures.

Brent crude for December dipped to a little over 109 U.S. dollars, and U.S. gasoline futures fell as well. By cutting electricity for millions and leaving even more residents homebound, analysts say, Sandy has dragged down oil demand down for the time being.

On Tuesday, China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged 0.17 percent higher from the previous close, showing little disturbance from the shutdown in the United States.

"The Chinese capital market still retains its independence after years of gradual opening up, and a hurricane like this is unlikely to dampen the confidence of the largely local investors," Meng said.

As the U.S. presidential election looms, uncertainties are tying the hands of the worldwide market.

"With candidates neck-and-neck ahead of the presidential election, many investors are set to be in a wait-and-see mode. Hurricane Sandy, moreover, could see a disrupted start to the week in the U.S.," Michala Marcussen, Societe Generale's Global Head of Economics, wrote in an email to Xinhua.

China spared from Hurricane Sandy's destruction（在线收听）