China Bourse May Extend Tuesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Tuesday snapped the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 120 points or 3 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,960-point plateau and it's likely to open to the upside again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.

For the day, the index jumped 53.33 points or 1.36 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,967.13 after trading as low as 3,869.30. The Shenzhen Composite Index rallied 58.06 points or 2.26 percent to end at 2.626.15.

The lead from Wall Street is fairly upbeat as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday but all managed to be in the green by the day's end.

The Dow rose 10.02 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 52,508.66, while the NASDAQ jumped 233.83 points or 0.90 percent to close at 26,107.01 and the S&P 500 collected 28.54 points or 0.38 percent to end at 7,543.88.

The strength on Wall Street followed the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. fell more than expected in June.

The weaker-than-expected inflation data helped ease recent concerns about the outlook for inflation and the possibility of higher interest rates.

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East and a rebound in oil prices limited the upside.

Crude oil prices moved higher again on Tuesday amid concerns about the escalating conflict between the U.S. and Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up $0.94 or 1.2 percent to $79.08 a barrel.

Closer to home, China is scheduled to release a batch of economic data later this morning, including Q2 figures for gross domestic product, as well as June numbers for industrial production, retail sales, fixed asset investment, house prices and unemployment.

GDP is expected to rise 0.9 percent on quarter and 4.2 percent on year after adding 1.3 percent on quarter and 5.0 percent on year in the three months prior.

Industrial output is tipped to improve 4.7 percent on year, up from 4.5 percent in May. Sales are seen lower by an annual 0.1 percent after sinking 0.6 percent in the previous month. FAI is expected to drop 5.0 percent on year after slumping 4.1 percent a month earlier. In May, house prices sank 3.5 percent on year and the jobless rate was 5.1 percent.