China Shares May Stop The Bleeding On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, slipping almost 50 points or 1.2 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 4,090-point plateau although it may find traction on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on easing crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The SCI finished slightly lower on Monday as losses from the resource and energy companies were mitigated by support from the financial sector.

For the day, the index slipped 10.66 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 4,084.79 after trading between 4,048.09 and 4,096.13. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 4.24 points or 0.16 percent to end at 2,705.65.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China improved 0.69 percent, while Bank of China perked 0.19 percent, Agricultural Bank of China gained 0.45 percent, China Merchants Bank added 0.38 percent, Bank of Communications rose 0.29 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.43 percent, Jiangxi Copper cratered 2.94 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) stumbled 3.84 percent, Yankuang Energy plunged 4.00 percent, PetroChina shed 0.50 percent, Huaneng Power tanked 2.68 percent, China Shenhua Energy dropped 0.88 percent and Gemdale, Poly Developments, China Vanke and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday and remained firmly in the green throughout the trading day, snapping a four-day losing streak.

The Dow jumped 387.94 points or 0.83 percent to finish at 46,946.41, while the NASDAQ rallied 268.82 points or 1.22 percent to end at 22,374.18 and the S&P 500 spiked 67.19 points or 1.01 percent to close at 6,699.38.

The rebound on Wall Street came amid a sharp pullback by the price of crude oil after President Donald Trump called on other countries to help secure the Strait of Hormuz.

Crude oil prices slipped Monday as the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz showed mild signs of easing. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was down $5.38 or 5.45 percent at $93.33 per barrel.

The pullback by oil prices helped ease recent inflation concerns, although the Federal Reserve is still widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged when it meets in the coming days.

In U.S. economic news, the Federal Reserve said that industrial production in the U.S. increased slightly more than expected in February.