China Shares Likely To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, sliding more than 10 points or 0.3 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,290-point plateau and it's likely to hold steady in that neighborhood again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed with a touch of upside amidst a lack of catalysts. The European markets were up slightly and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Monday as losses from the properties and resource stocks were mitigated by support from the financial sector. For the day, the index lost 6.65 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 3,288.41 after trading between 3,279.88 and 3,296.93. The Shenzhen Composite Index sank 17.90 points or 0.93 percent to end at 1,897.75. Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Huaneng Power both climbed 1.11 percent, while Bank of China gained 0.88 percent, China Construction Bank jumped 1.95 percent, Agricultural Bank of China improved 1.08 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 0.64 percent, Bank of Communications gathered 0.40 percent, China Life Insurance slipped 0.30 percent, Jiangxi Copper fell 0.32 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tumbled 1.97 percent, Yankuang Energy retreated 1.21 percent, PetroChina increased 0.75 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.53 percent, China Shenhua Energy declined 1.76 percent, Gemdale plummeted 9.03 percent, Poly Developments plunged 5.14 percent and China Vanke surrendered 3.12 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests little movement as the major averages opened higher on Monday, slumped mid-session but rallied to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow advanced 114.09 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 40,227.59, while the NASDAQ eased 16.81 points or 0.10 percent to close at 17,366.13 and the S&P 500 perked 3.54 points or 0.06 percent to end at 5,528.75.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as they look ahead to the release of key earnings and economic news in the coming days.

Quarterly results are due from the likes of Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Meta Platforms (META) and Microsoft (MSFT), Coca-Cola (KO), Visa (V), Eli Lilly (LLY), Chevron (CVX) and Exxon Mobil (XOM).

The Labor Department's monthly jobs report is also likely to be in focus later this week along with the Federal Reserve's preferred readings on consumer price inflation.

Crude oil prices continued to slump on concerns over tariff threats and their likely impact on the global economy. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was down $115 or 1.82 percent to $61.87 per barrel.