China Stock Market May Hand Back Monday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The China stock market bounced higher again on Monday, one session after halting the four-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost 80 points or 2.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,650-point plateau although it's likely to head south again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of key U.S. inflation data. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets also figure to track into the red.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the properties, weakness from the insurance companies and mixed performances from the financial and resource stocks. For the day, the index added 12.42 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 3,647.55 after trading between 3,629.63 and 3,656.85. The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 31.57 points or 1.42 percent to end at 2,251.72. Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slumped 1.16 percent, while Agricultural Bank of China collected 0.45 percent, China Merchants Bank dropped 0.97 percent, China Life Insurance sank 0.71 percent, Ping An Insurance eased 0.12 percent, Jiangxi Copper improved 0.80 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) shed 0.40 percent, Huaneng Power retreated 1.67 percent, Gemdale spiked 2.34 percent, Poly Developments rose 0.25 percent, China Vanke added 0.47 percent and China Shenhua Energy was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened mixed on Monday, rallied midday but then slumped in the afternoon and finished under water.

The Dow dropped 200.52 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 43,975.09, while the NASDAQ sank 64.62 points or 0.30 percent to close at 21,385.40 and the S&P 500 fell 16.00 points or 0.25 percent to end at 6,373.45.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of several closely watched economic reports in the coming days.

The Labor Department's report on consumer price inflation in the month of July is likely to be in focus later today as the data could impact the outlook for interest rates.

Ahead of the release of the data, CME Group's FedWatch Tool is indicating an 86.5 percent chance the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates by a quarter point next month.

Crude oil edged higher on Monday as Russia shrugged off the U.S. deadline to end its war with Ukraine or face sanctions. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was up $0.17 or 0.27 percent at $64.05 per barrel.