China Shares Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, advancing more than 60 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,730-point plateau although it may had back those gains on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky as investors wait for developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and flat and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Monday following mixed performances from the financial shares, resource stocks and energy companies, while the property sector was soft.

For the day, the index gained 31.26 points or 0.85 percent to finish at 3,728.03 after trading between 3,702.38 and 3,745.94. The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 40.40 points or 1.76 percent to end at 2,341.17.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slumped 0.26 percent, while Agricultural Bank of China climbed 1.17 percent, China Merchants Bank added 0.48 percent, Bank of Communications collected 0.13 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 1.42 percent, Jiangxi Copper stumbled 1.82 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plunged 3.02 percent, Yankuang Energy dropped 0.92 percent, PetroChina lost 0.58 percent, Huaneng Power perked 0.14 percent, China Shenhua Energy surged 4.45 percent, Gemdale tumbled 1.75 percent, Poly Developments retreated 1.47 percent, China Vanke shed 0.46 percent and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) and Bank of China were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened mixed but moved little, hugging the line all day and ending on opposite sides.

The Dow shed 34.30 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 44,911.82, while the NASDAQ rose 6.80 points or 0.03 percent to close at 21,629.77 and the S&P 500 eased 0.65 points or 0.01 percent to end at 6,449.15.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders kept an eye on the White House, where President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders.

The meetings at the White House come after Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Friday which failed to result in a concrete agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine.

On the U.S. economic front, the National Association of Home Builders reported a modest deterioration by U.S. homebuilder confidence in the month of August.

Crude oil priced climbed on Monday as investors focused their attention on the meeting between the U.S. and Ukrainian presidents amid rising geopolitical tensions surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was up $0.60 or 0.96 percent at $63.40 per barrel.