China Shares Likely To Open To The Downside Again On Monday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, falling almost 40 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,350-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on renewed trade and tariff concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, properties, resource stocks and oil companies.

For the day, the index dropped 31.82 points or 0.94 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,348.37 after peaking at 3,389.47. The Shenzhen Composite Index shed 17.74 points or 0.89 percent to end at 1,973.28.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was down 0.56 percent, while Bank of China surrendered 1.07 percent, Agricultural Bank of China lost 1.25 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 1.03 percent, Bank of Communications weakened 1.29 percent, China Life Insurance slumped 1.38 percent, Jiangxi Copper fell 0.28 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) sank 0.75 percent, Yankuang Energy skidded 1.00 percent, PetroChina declined 1.45 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) retreated 1.56 percent, Huaneng Power eased 0.14 percent, China Shenhua Energy tumbled 1.73 percent, Gemdale tanked 2.27 percent, Poly Developments dropped 0.98 percent and China Vanke shed 0.60 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Friday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 256.02 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 41,603.07, while the NASDAQ tumbled 188.53 points or 1.00 percent to close at 18,737.21 and the S&P 500 sank 39.19 points or 0.67 percent to end at 5,802.82.

For the week, the S&P 500 gave up 2.6 percent, while the NASDAQ and the Dow both plunged 2.5 percent.

The initial slump on Wall Street came after President Donald Trump threatened to impose 50 percent tariffs on imports from the European Union beginning June 1, sparking renewed trade concerns.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department said new home sales in the U.S. spiked in April compared to a significantly downwardly revised level in March.

Crude oil prices ticked higher on Friday but still fell for the week amid reports of another production increase by OPEC for July. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery climbed $0.34 or 0.6 percent to $61.54 a barrel. For the week, crude fell 1.5 percent.