China Shares May Extend Tuesday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The China stock market headed south again on Tuesday, one day after ending the two-day slide in which it had dropped more than 60 points or 1.5 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,960-point plateau and it's expected to open under water again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on concerns that technology shares may be over bought. The European and U.S. markets were firmly under water and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Tuesday as losses from the resource and property stocks were mitigated by support from the property sector.

For the day, the index shed 16.33 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 3,960.19 after trading between 3,938.52 and 3,985.88. The Shenzhen Composite Index slumped 33.84 points or 1.34 percent to end at 2,486.78.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China spiked 2.91 percent, Bank of China advanced 0.88 percent, Agricultural Bank of China jumped 1.75 percent, China Merchants Bank rallied 2.92 percent, Bank of Communications collected 1.65 percent, China Life Insurance improved 0.81 percent, Jiangxi Copper stumbled 3.28 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tanked 3.15 percent, PetroChina perked 0.10 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rose 0.18 percent, Huaneng Power shed 0.49 percent, China Shenhua Energy added 0.23 percent, Gemdale fell 0.26 percent, Poly Developments retreated 1.23 percent, China Vanke slumped 1.11 percent and Yankuang Energy was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day, ending near session lows.

The Dow dropped 251.44 points of 0.53 percent to finish at 47,085.24, while the NASDAQ plummeted 486.09 points or 2.04 percent to close at 23,348.64 and the S&P 500 sank 80.42 points or 1.17 percent to end at 6,771.55.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid concerns about the valuations of tech stocks, which have helped lead the markets to record highs amid optimism about artificial intelligence.

The weakness on Wall Street also came as Goldman Sachs (GS) CEO David Solomon warned of a significant correction by the equity markets over the next 1-2 years.

Crude oil prices declined sharply on Tuesday due to excess supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.44 or 0.72 percent at $60.61 per barrel.