China Shares May See Renewed Consolidation

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 70 points or 2.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,120-point plateau although it may head south again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over the outlook for the economy and for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index advanced 27.36 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 3,120.33 after trading between 3,074.53 and 3,126.78. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 9.05 points or 0.47 percent to end at 19,39.88.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rallied 1.32 percent, while Bank of China jumped 1.61 percent, China Construction Bank and Jiangxi Copper both climbed 1.18 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 0.61 percent, Bank of Communications spiked 1.83 percent, China Life Insurance surged 2.60 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) strengthened 1.88 percent, Yankuang Energy accelerated 2.00 percent, PetroChina improved 2.25 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) surged 2.65 percent, Huaneng Power advanced 0.80 percent, China Shenhua Energy gained 1.89 percent, Gemdale fell 0.39 percent, Poly Developments eased 0.07 percent and China Vanke rose 0.29 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday and quickly turned lower, although the NASDAQ managed to finish in the green.

The Dow dropped 174.86 points or 0.51 percent to finish at 34,288.83, while the NASDAQ rose 8.28 points or 0.06 percent to close at 13,505.87 and the S&P 500 slipped 12.22 points or 0.28 percent to end at 4,387.55.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as traders continued to look ahead to the economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later this week.

Early volatility in the bond market may also have contributed to the choppy trading, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note showing wild swings back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing modestly lower.

In economic news, the National Association of Realtors said existing home sales in the U.S. slumped much more than expected in July.

Crude oil futures eased on Tuesday, extending losses from the previous session amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September slipped $0.37 or 0.5 percent at $80.35 a barrel.