China Shares May Extend Tuesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Tuesday halted the three-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 120 points or 3.7 percent. The Shanghai Composite now sits just beneath the 3,350-point plateau and it's expected to open higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with support again expected from the oil and technology sectors. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the resource stocks, weakness from the financials and a mixed picture from the property sector.

For the day, the index improved 22.16 points or 0.67 percent to finish at 3,346.01 after trading between 3,284.13 and 3,346.76. The Shenzhen Composite Index rallied 43.08 points or 2.19 percent to end at 2,009.86.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.65 percent, while Bank of China slid 0.40 percent, China Construction Bank lost 0.64 percent, China Merchants Bank fell 0.47 percent, Agricultural Bank of China skidded 1.04 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 0.92 percent, Jiangxi Copper climbed 1.15 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) jumped 1.79 percent, Yankuang Energy added 0.52 percent, PetroChina dipped 0.25 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) slumped 1.10 percent, Huaneng Power retreated 1.52 percent, China Shenhua Energy sank 0.77 percent, Gemdale perked 0.19 percent, China Vanke declined 1.02 percent and Poly Developments was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic after the major averages opened lower on Tuesday, although the NASDAQ and S&P 500 managed to finish in the green.

The Dow slumped 120.66 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 43,268.94, while the NASDAQ rallied 195.66 points or 1.04 percent to close at 18.987.47 and the S&P added 23.36 points or 0.40 percent to end at 5,916.98.

The early weakness on Wall Street came amid concerns about escalating tensions between the U.S. and Russia over the war in Ukraine.

After President Joe Biden gave Ukraine permission to attack Russian territory using U.S.-made long-range missiles, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree amending the country's nuclear doctrine.

Selling pressure waned shortly after the start of trading, however, with an advance by shares of Nvidia (NVDA) helping lead the turnaround by the NASDAQ. Nvidia will release Q3 results later today.

Oil futures settled higher on Tuesday amid the rising possibility of supply disruptions after Ukraine launched long-range U.S. made missiles to hit a facility in Russia's Bryansk region. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December rose $0.23 or about 0.3 percent at $69.39 a barrel.