China Shares May Test Support At 3,700 Points On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Tuesday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had gained more than 60 points or 1.7 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,730-point plateau and it's likely to open under water again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, with oil and technology stocks likely to weigh on the markets. The European markets were up and the Asian bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished barely lower on Tuesday following losses from the resource stocks and mixed performances from the financial shares and properties.

For the day, the index dipped 0.74 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 3,727.29 after trading between 3,718.15 and 3,746.67. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 2.58 points or 0.11 percent to end at 2,343.74.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.53 percent, while Bank of China rallied 2.02 percent, Agricultural Bank of China strengthened 1.30 percent, China Merchants Bank fell 0.25 percent, Bank of Communications advanced 0.94 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 2.45 percent, Jiangxi Copper retreated 1.49 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) skidded 1.17 percent, Yankuang Energy shed 0.46 percent, PetroChina sank 0.70 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) slipped 0.18 percent, Huaneng Power perked 0.14 percent, China Shenhua Energy stumbled 2.45 percent, Gemdale improved 0.76 percent, Poly Developments lost 0.50 percent and China Vanke added 0.46 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday and spent most of the day in the red, although the Dow peeked up above the line at the end.

The Dow rose 10.45 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 44,922.27, while the NASDAQ tumbled 314.82 points or 1.46 percent to end at 21,314.95 and the S&P 500 sank 37.78 points or 0.59 percent to close at 6,411.37.

The slump by the NASDAQ came amid weakness in the tech sector, with shares of Nvidia (NVDA) plunging by 3.5 percent following reports that the company is developing a new AI chip for China.

On the other hand, the Dow benefitted from a surge by shares of Home Depot (HD), as the home improvement retailer shot up 3.2 percent after the company maintained its full-year guidance despite missing on Q2 results.

Traders were also looking ahead to the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting later today and the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium that gets underway on Thursday. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak at the symposium on Friday, with remarks potentially impacting the outlook for interest rates.

Crude oil declined on Tuesday amid supply side concerns as OPEC continues to unwind 2.2 million barrels per day in voluntary cuts by its member nations. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $1.07 or 1.69 percent at $62.35 per barrel.