China Stock Market May Erase Monday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Monday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 20 points or 0.6 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 2,960-point plateau although it's expected to rebound on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, with bargain hunting among the technology stocks expected to fuel the rally. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index shed 18.09 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 2,964.22 after trading between 2,946.56 and 2,978.60. The Shenzhen Composite Index dipped 1.58 points or 0.10 percent to end at 1,608.49.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China skidded 1.18 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.43 percent, China Construction Bank retreated 1.59 percent, China Merchants Bank tanked 2.66 percent, China Life Insurance slumped 1.12 percent, Jiangxi Copper declined 1.37 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) rallied 2.20 percent, Yankuang Energy added 0.32 percent, PetroChina plummeted 3.41 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) stumbled 1.23 percent, Huaneng Power plunged 3.31 percent, China Shenhua Energy shed 0.57 percent, Gemdale tumbled 1.56 percent, Poly Developments lost 0.54 percent, China Vanke weakened 1.13 percent and Bank of Communications was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher and mostly stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow climbed 127.91 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 40,415.44, while the NASDAQ surged 280.63 points or 1.58 percent to end at 18,007.57 and the S&P 500 rallied 59.41 points or 1.08 percent to close at 5,564.41.

The strength on Wall Street came as tech stocks regained ground following the steep drop seen last week, which saw the NASDAQ plunge by 3.7 percent. AI darling and tech sector leader Nvidia (NVDA) led the rebound, spiking 4.8 percent.

The advance by Nvidia also lent considerable strength to the semiconductor stocks, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index soaring 4.0 percent after ending last week at its lowest closing level in over a month.

Stocks also moved higher after President Joe Biden announced his decision to drop out of the presidential race and endorsed his Vice President Kamala Harris.

Crude oil futures eased on Monday, declining for the third consecutive session on concerns about the outlook for oil demand and renewed hopes of a ceasefire in Gaza. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.35 or at $79.78 a barrel.