China Stock Market May Reverse Monday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Monday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had risen more than 40 points or 1.2 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just shy of the 3,210-point plateau, although it's predicted to find renewed support on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index dropped 28.07 points or 0.87 percent to finish at 3,209.63 after trading between 3,195.89 and 3,219.02. The Shenzhen Composite Index sank 10.40 points or 0.51 percent to finish at 2,047.70.

Among the actives, Bank of China collected 0.27 percent, while China Construction Bank sank 0.84 percent, China Merchants Bank dropped 0.88 percent, Bank of Communications skidded 1.08 percent, China Life plunged 3.47 percent, Jiangxi Copper tumbled 1.81 percent, Aluminum Corporation of China (Chalco) surrendered 2.55 percent, Yangkuang Energy plummeted 4.87 percent, Huaneng Power rallied 2.07 percent, Shenhua Energy slumped 3.81 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) declined 1.50 percent, PetroChina retreated 1.33 percent, Gemdale stumbled 1.32 percent, Poly Development lost 1.11 percent, China Vanke fell 0.51 percent, China Fortune Land weakened 2.67 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened mixed on Monday but all quickly turned higher. They pulled back from daily highs but still ended firmly in the green.

The Dow added 76.32 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 34,585.35, while the NASDAQ jumped 131.25 points or 0.93 percent to close at 14,244.95 and the S&P 500 rose 17.37 points or 0.39 percent to end at 4,522.79.

The strength on Wall Street partly reflected recent upward momentum, as encouraging inflation data has added to optimism about the outlook for interest rates ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting.

While the Fed is widely expected to raise rates by another quarter point, traders are hopeful that will mark the final rate hike.

On the U.S. economic front, the New York Federal Reserve released a report showing a pullback in the pace of growth in regional manufacturing activity in the month of July.

Oil prices fell on Monday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand after data showed the Chinese economy grew at slower than expected pace in the second quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $1.27 or 1.7 percent at $74.15 a barrel.