China Stock Market Likely Rangebound On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 25 points or 0.8 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,300-point plateau and it's expected to remain in that neighborhood again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, thanks to the uncertainty surrounding the U.S. debt ceiling situation. The European and U.S. bourses were mostly lower and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares, weakness from the oil companies and a mixed performance from the properties. For the day, the index gained 12.93 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 3,296.47 after trading between 3,276.54 and 3,308.53. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 7.86 points or 0.39 percent to end at 2,038.96.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank both collected 0.60 percent, while Bank of China rose 0.24 percent, China Merchants Bank improved 0.74 percent, China Life Insurance retreated 1.56 percent, Jiangxi Copper shed 0.42 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) gained 0.36 percent, Yankuang Energy declined 1.51 percent, PetroChina lost 0.53 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) stumbled 1.40 percent, Huaneng Power soared 3.34 percent, China Shenhua Energy slid 0.32 percent, Gemdale perked 0.26 percent, Poly Developments eased 0.15 percent, China Vanke advanced 0.89 percent, China Fortune Land tumbled 1.72 percent and Bank of Communications was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened slightly higher but quickly headed south. They staged a modest recovery as the day progressed, although the Dow never managed to escape from negative territory.

The Dow dropped 140.05 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 33,286.58, while the NASDAQ climbed 62.88 points or 0.50 percent to close at 12,720.78 and the S&P 500 rose 0.65 points or 002 percent to end at 4,192.63.

The weakness on Wall Street came as investors largely refrained from making significant moves as they awaited updates on debt ceiling negotiations between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., which so far have not found a resolution.

Treasury Secretary Yellen said on Sunday that the likelihood of the Treasury paying all U.S. bills by June 15 is getting smaller each day.

Concerns over the outlook for interest rates also weighed as Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said that he backed two more increases.

Crude oil prices pared early losses and settled higher on Monday, amid hopes the U.S. lawmakers will reach a debt ceiling deal soon and help the nation avoid a default. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for June settled at $71.99 a barrel, up $0.44 or 0.6 percent on the expiration day.