China Stock Market Likely To Open Under Pressure On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Monday ended the eight-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 300 points or 10.9 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 2,975-point plateau and it may see continued profit taking on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautious ahead of key economic data later this week. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.

For the day, the index dropped 27.86 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 2,977.02 after trading between 2,967.06 and 3,009.48. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 7.30 points or 0.44 percent to end at 1,677.15.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China retreated 2.92 percent, while Bank of China declined 3.02 percent, China Construction Bank stumbled 3.20 percent, China Merchants Bank slumped 2.12 percent, Bank of Communications skidded 3.08 percent, China Life Insurance tumbled 3.65 percent, Jiangxi Copper weakened 2.60 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) surrendered 3.41 percent, Yankuang Energy plunged 2.97 percent, PetroChina sank 2.54 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) dropped 1.73 percent, Huaneng Power lost 2.78 percent, China Shenhua Energy plummeted 3.14 percent, Gemdale shed 1.84 percent, Poly Developments fell 1.80 percent and China Vanke was down 2.16 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened slightly higher on Monday but faded as the day progressed, ending with mild losses.

The Dow shed 62.30 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 39,069.23, while the NASDAQ lost 20.57 points or 0.13 percent to close at 15,976.25 and the S&P 500 fell 19.27 points or 0.38 percent to end at 5,069.53.

The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders seem be reluctant to make significant moves as they digest last week's gains, which lifted the Dow and S&P 500 to new record highs.

Traders were also cautious ahead of key inflation reports later this week from Germany, France and Spain - as well as the U.S. Federal Reserve's favored core measure of personal consumption expenditure prices.

In economic news, the Commerce Department reported a continued rebound in new home sales in the U.S. in January, although the increase fell short of estimates.

Oil prices pared early losses and climbed higher on Monday as continued attacks by Houthi militants in the Red Sea route raised concerns about supply. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $1.09 or 1.4 percent at $77.58 a barrel.