China Stock Market Overdue For Support On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, tumbling almost 150 points or 4.4 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,115-point plateau although it may finally find its footing on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic as some traders believe the heavy selling in recent sessions has been overdone. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Monday following mixed performances from the properties, energy stocks and resource companies, while the financials provided support.

For the day, the index lost 10.80 points or 0.35 percent to finish 3,115.60 after trading between 3,101.22 and 3,135.56. The Shenzhen Composite Index sank 15.24 points or 0.76 percent to end at 1,990.36.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.46 percent, while Bank of China advanced 0.98 percent, China Construction Bank gained 0.72 percent, China Merchants Bank rose 0.40 percent, Bank of Communications climbed 1.09 percent, China Life Insurance shed 0.64 percent, Jiangxi Copper skidded 1.06 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) dropped 0.89 percent, Yankuang Energy rallied 2.66 percent, PetroChina fell 0.37 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) strengthened 0.97 percent, Huaneng Power tanked 2.39 percent, China Shenhua Energy jumped 1.74 percent, Gemdale perked 0.26 percent, Poly Developments soared 2.16 percent, China Vanke improved 1.00 percent, China Fortune Land plunged 2.51 percent and Beijing Capital slumped 1.30 percent.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages opened lower on Monday, bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before ending in the green.

The Dow jumped 197.26 points or 0.64 percent to finish at 31,019.68, while the NASDAQ jumped 86.62 points or 0.76 percent to close at 11,535.02 and the S&O 500 gained 26.56 points or 0.69 percent to end at 3,899.89.

Trading activity was subdued as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points, although some see an outside chance for a 100 basis point rate hike.

A number of other major central banks around the world are also scheduled to announce their latest monetary policy decisions this week, including the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan.

Traders largely shrugged off a report from the National Association of Home Builders showing U.S. homebuilder confidence declined for the ninth consecutive month in September.

Oil prices recovered Monday after falling sharply, rebounding to end on a firm note amid concerns about supplies. A fairly steady dollar amid possible sharp hikes in interest rates limited oil's upside. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $0.62 or 0.7 percent at $85.73 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will see September results for its one-year and five-year prime rates later today; they're expected to hold steady at 3.65 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively.