China Shares Tipped To Return To The Upside On Monday

(RTTNews) - Ahead of the long break for the Lunar New Year, the China stock market had risen in three straight sessions, collecting more than 60 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just shy of the 3,265-point plateau and it's expected to see additional support when it opens on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher ahead of this week's FOMC meeting. The European and U.S. markets saw mild upside and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished modestly higher on January 20 following gains from the property and resource stocks, while the financials came in mixed.

For the day, the index gained 24.53 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 3,264.81 after trading between 3,247.20 and 3,267.06.

Among the actives, China Construction Bank rose 0.18 percent, while China Merchants Bank advanced 0.98 percent, Bank of Communications dipped 0.20 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.31 percent, Jiangxi Copper strengthened 1.66 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) surged 3.38 percent, Yankuang Energy soared 3.16 percent, PetroChina jumped 1.76 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) climbed 1.11 percent, Huaneng Power spiked 3.25 percent, China Shenhua Energy gained 0.53 percent, Gemdale improved 0.91 percent, Poly Developments added 0.64 percent, China Vanke perked 0.16 percent, Chin Fortune Land surged 3.64 percent, Beijing Capita Development rallied 2.17 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of China were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be positive as the major averages shook off early listlessness to move into the green in afternoon trade.

The Dow added 28.68 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 33,978.08, while the NASDAQ jumped 109.31 points or 0.95 percent to end at 11,621.71 and the S&P 500 rose 10.13 points or 0.25 percent to close at 4,070.56.

For the week, the NASDAQ soared 4.3 percent, the S&P 500 surged 2.5 percent and the Dow jumped 1.8 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy meeting this week. The Fed is widely expected to slow the pace of interest rate hikes to 25 basis points, but traders will look to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for further rate hikes.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said personal income increased in line with estimates in December, while personal spending eased in line with expectations. The report also said core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, rose more than expected.

A separate report from the National Association of Realtors showed an unexpected rebound in pending home sales in December, while the University of Michigan upwardly revised its reading on consumer sentiment in January.

Crude oil prices fell Friday amid uncertainty about the outlook for oil demand. Profit taking after recent gains and indications that oil supply from Russia will surge also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for March sank $1.33 or 1.6 percent at $79.68 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 2.4 percent in the week.